Scientia
by forgottenone1385
Summary: AU. smart!harry. Latin for knowledge. What if Harry went looking for magic before Hogwarts and found it? What if the Greatest School in Britain wasn't all that great?
1. Chapter 1

Summary: What if Harry wasn't quite the putz we see in cannon

Summary: What if Harry wasn't quite the putz we see in cannon? What if the Greatest School in Britain wasn't all that great? What if Harry had contact with the magical world before Hogwarts?

Hello. Welcome to a brand new story. I've been kicking around various versions of this story, which, I hate to say, started as a Mary-Sue.

I've always been dissatisfied with the cannon Harry Potter world. It just seemed to be stuck in the past. I've move the story up about ten years, having Harry be born in 1988, mostly because I wanted to add more modern technology.

Please review. (insert shameless begging here) This chapter is short (yes I do know this) but I promise more is coming.

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Chapter 1

Discovering A Whole New World

Harry slammed the door behind him and stood on his tippy-toes to stare out the window. Dudley was just standing there, on the Library steps, seemingly unwilling to follow him inside. He waited a few more minutes, catching his breath, until he was sure Dudley had given up on this round of Harry Hunting.

"I knew he was allergic to books." he muttered to himself.

"No, its probably the authority figures." came a voice from behind him.

Harry's eyes grew wide. He hadn't thought anyone would be paying attention to him. They never had before. "Uhh, sorry about that." he said turning around.

"No problem, Squirt." said the most unusual librarian Harry had ever seen, and that included the school librarian who barked at people and swore her cats wrote the overdue notices. The lady had blue hair cut short and styled into spikes. She had a row of earrings in both ears and even an earring in her nose! Harry wasn't sure what to make of the lady, but he decided he like the blue hair. "Want a book to read while you wait for Gordo over there to disappear?"

"Gordo?"

"It's Spanish for fat."

"Can you teach me that? Spanish, I mean. Or help me find a book?"

"I'll do one better. I'll find you a book about Spanish. My name's Nicole. Call me Nikki."

"I'm Harry. Thanks."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N

Look. I updated. Yay me! Sorry it's such a short chapter, but I've got a very big chapter in the works for next time. It's been a while since I've written, so please, feel free to point out any mistakes.

Chapter 2

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A Blue Nikki

It was 7 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon. The library was deserted except for a little boy sitting at a table in the rear. The table was covered in books, everything from picture books to a biography on Napoleon. The little boy was currently using a thick story collection book as a pillow.

Nikki was making her last rounds, putting away the books that the patrons had left out and shutting down all the computers. The computers were a god-send, saving her time looking up books for people. She took her time, avoiding waking Harry until the last possible moment. Such a shame.

She had called an old boyfriend who now worked in Child Protective Services and had him look up Harry's file. There had been numerous complaints, but each time Mr. Dursley had made both the complaint and the complainant disappear. Anyone with half a brain could see the poor boy was abused, but it seems CPS wasn't helping. If Nikki wanted to help at all, she needed to stay nearby, which she couldn't due if Mr. Dursely had her fired.

What else could she do? The kid already stayed her until 9 every night. She had even begged for Sunday hours. She fed him both an afternoon snack and dinner, and packaged another snack which she suspected he eat for lunch. And Lord knows she loved the kid as her own brother.

She was slowly teaching the kid everything she could remember learning in grade school. The kid was incredibly bright and soaked knowledge up like a sponge. Maybe she could get him into a boarding school. He had absorbed her paltry knowledge of High School Spanish and was looking for more. She made a note to have her friend, Enma stop by. He had mastered multiplication and division and was struggling with the 'fake multiplication' the school was forcing him to learn.

She had even taken the boy shopping last week. It was a good thing she had put some money away from her last job, the kid needed everything, even underwear. She had noticed him squinting lately and knew she'd have to take him to the optometrist to get glasses.

Poor kid. He already looked like a geek with his messy hair and skinny body. Glasses would cause him to get picked on so much more. The kid needed to get out more, maybe play some sports.

She'd enroll them both in a beginner football league tomorrow. She already knew Harry could run, she had seen him running from Dudley that first day, but she definitely needed the exercise.

It was 8:30 now. She had delayed as long as possible. Nikki leaned over and gently shook Harry awake. "Come on, Squirt. Time to go home."

"Not home." he murmured still mostly asleep. "The Dursley's."

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Chocolate Chip Cookie to anyone who can tell me what just happened.

Thanks to danielle72679 who wrote my first review! Cookie for you!

Sorry, nothing happened. Still writing the backstory. Action to come soon, I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm on a roll. Three Chapters in as many days. Yeah, they were short, but they're going to get longer, I promise. This one is three times as long, and still short. I know, I know. I'm working on it.

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Chapter 3

Googling Magic

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The clock always seemed to go slower and slower the closer it got to 3 o'clock. "Come on, come on."

"Mr. Potter! Are we keeping you here?" Mrs. Elburn was a strict old lady who didn't like kids not paying attention in her class. She had yelled at Dudley so many times, Aunt Petunia had request he be switched to another class.

"No, ma'am. Sorry." he said, sliding down in his seat.

"Do try to pay attention. Now who can tell me ..."

Maybe he had been a little obvious, but he couldn't wait to see Nikki. He had so much to tell her. He had finally figured out how those exponents worked and he had made a friend. His first friend! Her name was Maria and she didn't speak much English so nobody would talk to her. She was so thrilled when he introduced himself in Spanish, she had declared them best friends. Nikki would be so proud. She had been bugging him to make friends his own age. He wondered what Nikki was doing right now.

He glanced up as he heard the room go deathly silent. He gaped at his teacher's hair had gone blue, just like...Nikki's. The bell rang and the room exploded in laughter and noise as all the kids rushed from the room talking about what had happened. One girl took pity on the poor lady and used her mirror to show her the fabulous new haircut.

He had to tell Nikki. What had he done?

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"Nikki! Nikki!" Harry exploded through the library doors. He was starting to panic, wild eyed and crazy looking.

"What is it? Are you hurt? Did the Dursley's do something? I'll kill them." oh yes, Nikki in mother-hen mode.

"No, no. I'm fine, I'm fine. But Mrs.Elburn, her hair. It's blue, I think I turned it blue."

"A practical joke? I'm so proud of you. My little Squirt is growing up."

"But I didn't do anything! I was thinking of you and when I looked up, Mrs. Elburn had your hair!"

"What? You're joking, right? You turned the lady's hair blue, and don't know how?" Nikki gave him a skeptical look. Everyone knows there's no such thing as magic. Everyone except Harry apparently.

"It's like magic." ahh, the innocence of youth.

"Yeah, magic." Nikki smiled, humoring him. "Why don't you go look it up on the computer?" Now that she knew everything was alright, she could relax a little. Plus she had left old Miss Emily at the counter. She would understand, but still didn't like being left waiting.

"Okay. I'll use the one in the back."

"Sorry about that Miss Emily. He's still a little jumpy."

"No wonder, what with those horrid Dursley's. Someone should do something about them. At least they finally bought the kid some new clothes."

Snort. Miss Emily knew perfectly well that Nikki had bought the clothes for Harry. The old bat had slyly slipped Nikki some extra money for Harry by paying an overdue fine of 5p with a 50₤ banknote. Nikki was sure if asked, she would create an elaborate response about going senile in her old age and how the crown was always changing the currency.

"You know, I think Harry might need glasses. He's been squinting lately. Wonder when the Dursley's have scheduled his next appointment?" Both of them knew the Dursley's had never taken Harry to the doctor. Nikki was wondering how Miss Emily was going to pull this off.

"I'm not sure, but I heard they have an appointment for next Tuesday at 9." And by tomorrow, Miss Emily would make sure Harry had an appointment for the following Tuesday. The boy wouldn't be hurt while she was around. He was too cute, and polite to boot. If her family wouldn't acknowledge her, she'd find a new family.

Nikki knew she could always count on Miss Emily.

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Harry sat down at the computer and Googled the word "magic". A strange series of events occurred as he clicked search.

The term 'magic' had started a subroutine on his computer that sent a signal from the CPU to the mouse and a special sensor located there. The sensor felt Harry's magical ability and sent a message back to the CPU confirming that the user had magic. The computer sent a message to Google to display "magic class" results. Google then search their databases for the term 'magic' and returned a list of results which included those inaccessible by non-magic users. All this took place in under a second, without the only outward sign a slight delay in loading the search results.

Thus, when Harry clicked the first result page, he was redirected to the International Magic Organization homepage, and the amazing world of magic.

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A/N I really, really, really wanted to end here, but I'm trying really hard to have longer chapters…so onwards ho!

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The IMO homepage was neatly set up, with a list of the usual topics for every big organization along the lefthand side of the page. Links like "Overview", "Officials", "Hot Topics", and "Current Projects" were expected. "New to Magic" was not, but defiantly welcome.

Clicking on the link lead him to a page entitled "Yes, Magic is Real."

"Yes, Magic is Real!"

Congratulations! If you've discovered this page, you (or someone you know) is a magic user. Yes, magic is real. Thousands of people around the world use magic in their daily lives. Many more are aware of magic, but are not Magically Adept.

What Magic is Not:

Magic is not slight-of-hand or voodoo. Magic users do not eat babies and sacrifice small goats. Magic is not a New Age practice of burning candles and incense. Magic is not people sneaking around naked in the woods to worship the devil. Magic Users are normal people who have discovered an extraordinary talent and been introduced to a fantastic new world.

What is a Magic User?

A Magic User is someone who is able to manipulate the energy around them to produce desired results. Magic Users come in two classes, Magically Adept and Non-Magically Adept. Everyone is capable of doing magic. For those who can easily manipulate energy without prior training are Magically Adept. They tend to have a large gathering of energy around them, referred to as a Core. Those who need more training are Non-Magically Adept, and tend to not have a Core. Both are Magic Users.

While all Magic Users should train, Magically Adepts need training, so as both to injure themselves. Training for the younger ages consists mostly of theory and meditation. It is recommended that only basic level energy manipulation be done until the Magic User reaches puberty.

Training is very important. Magically Adepts can injure themselves by over reaching their magical boundaries. Usually, a Magically Adept's first brush with magic is by performing untrained (referred to as wish or accidental) magic. Normally, the subconscious controls untrained magic and so can prevent the body from going to far. When consciously using magic, the body doesn't recognize these limits, and can injure itself. Meditation is encouraged because it connects the subconscious and conscious minds.

Untrained Magic is incredibly dangerous because it uses only the energy present in a User's Core. This Core, while able to "recharge" by absorbing magic from the surroundings", is finite. After the Core is drained, energy is them taken straight from the body (life energy). Over extending the Core results in tiredness, hunger, and possibly a fever. If all the energy is drained from a User's body, they die.

With training, a User learns to access magic outside of their Core. Magically Adepts use their Core to manipulate outside energy, while Non-Magically Adepts must use their life energy. This makes the process more efficient and allows for bigger and more complicated results.

Now that you've done magic, you will be contacted by your local IMO office. They will be able to explain the local magic system and enroll you in a dual system school. On your own, you should find a good Martial Arts Dojo that includes mediation in their lessons."

"Nikki isn't going to believe this."

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Hey, I'll be the first to admit I'm not above bribing for reviews. I'd like to thank the following for taking the bait, . . . uhh, I mean providing valuable feedback:

DeliaDee, Lenayvonne, bunnies, leanne, Dudey-Bug.

And an extra big sugar-free chocolate cookie for New Dye, because she asked and reviewed first

I want to thank Prie an New Dye, who have inspired me to create four more sub-plots and at least two new characters for this story.


	4. Chapter 4

Next Chapter! Woot!

It's not any longer, sorry, but at least its not any shorter. And Things, Very Important Things, are going to happen real soon and hence the chapters will be getting longer.

I'm going to apologize in advance, but the next Chapter will be late, possibly late Friday night, probably sometime Saturday. I cut my finger last night, so it's a pain in the mikta to type. However, Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 will being going up close together, if not simultaneously.

And Now…

Chapter 4

The Outside World

"Tai Chi? Why do you want to do Tai Chi?" Nikki was puzzled. Where in the world did Tai Chi come from? The kid only liked football because he could run and got to practice his Spanish.

"The IMO website says I need to learn meditation and the best way to do so is through martial arts" came the matter of fact reply. Harry was studiously tying his shoe laces.

"What's the IMO?"

"International Magic Organization."

"Are you still on that magic kick? I told you, magic isn't real."

"Is too! Here, I'll show you the website." And indeed there was a website for the International Magic Organization. "It says only those with magic can find this website, but magically aware non-magic users can request a sign on to access the site manually. I already submitted your name for a sign-on as my guardian. Hope you don't mind."

"No that's fine. So you're saying, if I searched for IMO, I would find this site, but you would?" Not that she didn't trust the little Squirt, but magic was a little far out there for Nikki to believe. She tried and sure enough, the first result was for "The Society of American Magicians". "Does that mean I can't do magic?"

"That's what the Tai Chi's for. To learn how to do magic. Didn't you read the hand outs I gave you?" Geez. Adults were so slow sometimes.

"Of course, Squirt. Just testing you." Which would be true as soon as Harry was off to school.

"So the Tai Chi?"

"I'll think about it. Now finish your breakfast, or you'll be late." Damn those Dursley's. Nikki had recently found out Harry had to cook breakfast every morning, but rarely got to eat it. No wonder the kid was so skinny. She made him promise to stop by the Library everyday before school. If they wouldn't feed him, she sure as hell would. Speaking of, she'd have to see about slipping lunch in his bag. No way they gave him money for school lunch.

Recess wasn't all that interesting. It was raining today, as it was apt to do in England. Mrs. Elburn was absent today, taking a Mental Health Day it seems. The substitute had no clue what to do on a rainy day for recess, so just let them wander around. Well, technically, they were supposed to be headed to the Gym, but with no adult supervision, Harry was off to the school library.

He didn't enjoy going to the school library, his was so much nicer. The books were mostly for little babies, and there weren't any good hideaways, just tables and chairs. Plus the school librarian was just plain strange. She must have a million cats, because she was always covered in cat hair and smelled like fish. Harry just knew she was one of those people who talked to their cats and expected them to talk back. She also had the bad habit of sneaking up behind kids talking too loudly and barking at them. Not barking as in yelling loudly, but barking as in "woof-woof" like a dog. It was creepy.

She also assigned papers when you got in trouble or forgot to bring you books in on time. Harry really didn't like that. He never brought his books in on time. It wasn't his fault he sometimes forgot which book went to which library. Plus, why bother to keep track of the school's books. They were all for little babies, anyway.

He snuck in doing a sniff test at the door to see if Mrs. Elburn was there. Nope, no fishy smell. She must be at lunch. He entered quietly, sometimes other teachers ate lunch in the library. Nada. Empty. Good. He needed to use the computer.

Why was he using the school computer and not the computer at the library? Obviously, Nikki didn't believe that magic was real. But he was sure. He had created a ball of light last night to confirm it. Magic was real, and he wasn't going to let anyone stand in the way of him learning it. Not this lousy school. Not the Dursley's. Not even Nikki.

All of Britain couldn't keep him from a real education.

To: IMO Australia  
Subject: OLP

To Whom It May Concern;

My name is Harry Potter. I recently came across your site while searching online. I reside in Britain and have not yet been approached by my local officials. Is it possible for me to be enrolled in your online learning program? If not, can you put me in touch with another program?

Thank You,  
Harry Potter

Miss Emily Grierson was not the type of lady to take things lying down. When she wanted something down, it got down. Simple as that. She had been lonely since her husband, Homer Barron had died, but she had taken back her maiden name and reverted to an independent woman once more. Her family had abandoned her after she had married Homer and a few came around after he died, ostentatiously to pay their respects, but really to hear her beg forgiveness. She'd showed them. Wore her best clothes and played the rich, upper-class grieving widow to the hilt. They hadn't contacted her since.

Little Harold was such a cute thing. He had helped her carry out some books and even called her Ma'am. No one had called her Ma'am in years. That nice librarian, Nicole dear, had taken him under her wing and gave him the love he certainly didn't get from the Dursley's. A rotten bunch that. Reminded her of her own family.

Together, Nicole and her had gotten Harold into some proper clothing. It seems he was now needing glasses. Very well. She'd been meaning to visit the optometrist. Her eye sight wasn't what it used to be. Since she couldn't possibly let Harold walk to school by himself, he'd just have to come with her. Ohh, well. She was sure he was caught up on his schoolwork. And you shouldn't drive after an eye exam, but surely Nicole would take her.

Now, how to get Harold away from those rotten Dursley's. Perhaps she needed to mention to Petunia how her grand-niece Nicole was looking for some baby-sitting experience, especially in regards to longer stays, and was willing to pay to look after other people's children. Miss Emily knew Petunia never left the whale of hers stay with a sitter, and she wasn't bright enough to spot even such an obvious manipulation.

Yes, that's what she'd do. Maybe during the Garden Club meeting next week. She had a feeling Petunia's gardener would do some gratuitous pruning this week and the garden would be quite up to par. Petunia just might have to find a new gardener.

Interns, by definition are neither skilled or paid. Therefore, they do the rote jobs which no one else wants to do. Like check the mail.

Jeremy had the lackluster task on this lovely Tuesday morning. Snail mail was always written in the most pretentious tone. Those were always forwarded to the correct secretary.

Emails were easier. And decidedly more interesting. People always wrote the most amusing things. Everyday, Jeremy had to delete at least a hundred spam and other useless emails.

Here was someone claiming to be a British citizen wanting to enroll in OLP. This was the best prank email he'd seen in a while. Maybe he'd print it out to show it to all his friends.

"Mr. Russell, Mr. Russell!" Oliver rushed in with a piece of paper clutched in his hand. "The British . . . The British"

"Are coming?" responded Russell.

"Very funny, sir" said Oliver, giving him a look. "No, sir. Look! A British student!"

"Let me see!" Russell said while snatching the paper from his hand.

"I took this off of some intern in the lunch room. They were treating it as a joke."

"Call a emergency meeting of the heads. They'll want to know. A British student!"

"You expect me to believe you've been contacted by a British student." Mr. Pierson grumbled. "The British refuse to talk to us."

"Think of the advancements we could make."

"Are we even allowed to respond?"

"The agreement only prevents us from initiating contact. As long as they start the correspondence . . ."

"Is it legitimate?"

"The only way to know is to respond."

"Do we respond?"

"Let's enroll this Harry Potter in an intro class. And begin a conversation with him. Maybe we can save Britain after all."

In the back sat a long goblin. He could have sat at the very front, but Goblins tend to observe quietly and only interfere for their most lucrative accounts. The British weren't all that interesting, Goblins had sole control over money there, but the Potters, they were something to pay attention to. The Potter Account! Alfott will want to hear about this. Just think, Ragnok had thought nothing would come of this ambassador gig.

It's Official. Miss Emily has managed to hijack this story. She started as a throwaway character, and now has Chapter 6 almost entirely to herself. As we speak, she's plotting to get her own story. So,

Poll: Who likes Miss Emily? Who wants her gone already?

Thanks to Azariah Mithalvarian who wrote one, if not my most favorite review last chapter. I got warm fuzzies inside. In fact, warm Fuzzies for everyone.

You, reader, are an awesome person. You, reviewer, are even awsomer. May you never run out of great stories to read or sit so long in front of the computer you still see it when you close your eyes.

Once more, Kat


	5. Chapter 5

A/N

I apologize for the scene changes. I swear, I have line breaks between each one, but they disappear between preview and publishing. I keep trying to fix them, but is just being .

Second apology for being late. I know I promised Chapter 5 yesterday, but I spent most of Friday dealing with my newly updated iBrick 2.0. Chapter 6, aka the Miss Emily Chapter will be following shortly.

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Chapter 5

Nikki's Ward

"So why do I have to go with you? He wasn't complaining. Really, he wasn't. But any break in the routine made him wary.

At the Dursley's change meant more trouble for him. It used to be get up and do chores. Then school started and it was get up, go to school, do worse than Dudley , do chores, and do homework. Then he had met Nikki. His blue haired angel. Now he got up, went to school, and went to the library. The Dursley's didn't want to see him since he had started staying with Nikki so much. The only chore he had to do was to keep Aunt Petunia's garden up to standards, and he liked gardening anyway. He was only there twice a week, and that was simply to "Keep Up Appearances." The Dursley's never did a thing without dissecting what the neighbors would think.

"Have you noticed its getting really hard for you to read, Squirt? The words seem kind of blurry and the light's really dim?" She didn't wait for an answer. She didn't need one. The kid had read every book with his nose literally almost touching the page. She wondered how he even recognized her. "We're going to the eye doctor. Sorry, Squirt, you need glasses."

"Oh." His face fell. Obviously he wasn't looking forward to glasses. "Do I…do I get to pick them out?"

"Of course, Squirt. Any style you like."

"Oh. Okay. Cool." Or maybe not all that bothered.

"You're not worried about getting teased?" She couldn't believe it. Only nerds wore glasses when she went to school. She had even teased a few nerds herself.

"No." Harry gave her a weird look. "Everyone wears glasses." Geez. Adults were _weird_. Teased because of glasses. Who would do something so dumb? "So the optramist?"

"No, the optometrist. You'll be fine. It doesn't hurt. Not even any needles."

"Why would he give me a needle?"

"You haven't had your shots?" Most doctors loved jabbing patients.

"Shots! I've never even been to the doctor's. Why would I get shot?"

"Not a gun shot, Harry. Vaccinations. Chicken Pox. Polio. Tuberculosis." Silly kid. Really doctors weren't going to shoot. . . wait, never been to the doctor's. Now the wait lists were long, but not nine years long.. "You've never been to see a doctor? Ever?" Dursley's. She'd have to tell Miss Emily to make sure they came to a particularly nasty end. They shouldn't be allowed near kids.

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Once again, the neighborhood ladies were having tea together. These garden luncheons had started long ago, and when Petunia had moved to the neighborhood, none could think of a legitimate excuse to exclude her, despite their intense dislike. Miss Emily had decided the meetings were an excellent time to persuade Petunia to change her ways, especially in regards to young Harold. It seems everyone except for Petunia, Mrs. Chopin and she had been unable to attend today. Good. Less people meant fewer complications. Petunia poured the tea, and Miss Emily decided to get started.

"My niece, Nicole, you've meet Nicole haven't you Mrs. Dursley?" asked Miss Emily knowing perfectly well, Nicole had never even been mentioned in the presence of any of the Dursley's. Everyone in the neighborhood wanted Harry away from the Dursley's and wouldn't dare do anything to damage his chances of escape. In fact, some if them would help.

"Oh, yes. You've told us all about your lovely niece, Nicole. Has she finally moved back from London?" responded Mrs. Chopin, playing on whatever plan Miss Emily had put together this time. Miss Emily knew there was a reason she had always liked Mrs. Chopin. She was wonderful at the "Yes, and. . ." routine. Perfect. Now if Petunia would play along.

"Of course I remember Nicole. Such a sweet girl she was." said Petunia, badly hiding her confusion. There we go, right on cue.

"Well, she has committee herself to becoming a live-in Au Pair. However no one will hire someone with no experience." Now sigh, and look pointedly at Kate.

"I would allow Garrett to stay with her for some time, but I'm afraid at 22, he's a little to old for such a thing. It's such a shame. Nicole's such a darling. I wish I could help." Wonderful. How had she never noticed Mrs. Chopin was her new best friend? Now, to get Petunia to volunteer Harry.

"I would allow Dudley to stay with her, but you know how things affect him so. He's got such a weak constitution." Well, she was half way there. Now to get her to offer Harry and think it was her idea. Should be simple. Just sit there and wait in silence.

And wait.

Still waiting.

The garden was silent, not even the crickets were chirping. Harry had done a wonderful job at destroying Petunia's garden. There hedges had been trimmed haphazardly, sometimes sticking branches out and at others having gaping holes. The flowerbeds had clearly not been weeded, in fact it looked like flowers had been pulled instead. The piece de resistance was Petunia's award winning roses. They had been completely mutilated. Unopened buds had been sliced open, petals had been pulled, and the briars had been cut off, leaving the roses vulnerable to wildlife.

Miss Emily had planned this, but Harry had surprised her with the shear amount of hatred that had gone into destroying the garden. Despite knowing exactly what had happened, she pretended to just now notice the state of the garden. "My dear, Petunia. What happened to your garden?"

"Oh. It seems we've been invaded by a bug." Petunia answered carefully sipping her tea. And Miss Emily could see the light go on.

"Perhaps Harry could stay with your niece for a while. It would be quite an experience for, though I'm afraid. He's such a handful. Would you see if the dear would do something about his education, too? He's so far behind his classmates." Even Petunia can be led to see the light.

"Education might be tricky for her to control. You know how the government is these days. They don't take anyone at their word. If she showed up saying she's watching the brat without proof, she'll probably be arrested for kidnapping." Mrs. Chopin suggested. No. Kate, that's pushing her too far. She can't actually hate Harry so much she's willing to sign over guardian ship to Nicole.

"Yes. I suspect your right." She wouldn't. But Petunia seemed to be thinking quite hard about the idea. "Emily, dear, would your niece be willing to take temporary guardianship of Harry?"

Miss Emily couldn't believe it. The woman was willingly giving up complete guardianship of Harold. She couldn't possibly be that gullible. No. She was doing this on purpose. Very well. Miss Emily's future plans for the Dursley's just became even more malevolent. The Dursley's didn't deserve one ounce of her sympathy. "Very well, why don't we go find the correct papers?"

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To: Potter, Harry J..  
From: IMO Australia  
Subject: Re OLP

Mr. Potter,

The Australian branch of the International Magic Organization thanks you for your interest in our Online Learning Program. The program was designed as a distance-learning course for those without the time or resources to attend a traditional schooling. We here at IMO:Aus pride ourselves on providing the best possible education to our citizens. The program is available completely free to any Australian citizen who wishes to enroll. It covers the standard topics from age 5 to Competency.

However, the program is only funded for Australian citizens. As you can see, this puts us in a difficult situation. Legally, we can only enroll those who are citizens, but to refuse the best possible education goes against our very morals. After much debate, we have decided to enroll you in the introductory class, Magical Cultures I, to test your willingness to learn and aptitude. If you fail, you will be expelled from the program and desist any further attempts to contact anyone from the Online Learning Program or the Australian Branch of the International Magic Organization. If you pass, you will be offered a trial Australian Citizenship, contingent on a background check and your further involvement with the OLP.

If you choose to accept our offer, click here, to access the registration screen, were you can sign on using

User: hpotter2  
Password: Jul31James

You will then be directed to fill out the following forms and submit a magical and digital signature agreeing to both the normal Terms of Use and our separate arrangement.

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To: Potter, Harry J.  
From: Gringotts Bank  
Subject: Current Accounts

Mr. Potter:

We here at Gringotts were glad to hear of your reemergence into the magically aware world. There are several things about which we need to speak to you and your guardian.

As a minor, you are still unable to take direct control of your accounts however; your guardian can appoint a financial planner to control your investments.

Also, there is a cost of care stipend to pay for your education and upbringing. An oversight committee must approve all expenses, but repeated expenses can then be automated.

Furthermore, the accounts based here in Britain are often used as a joint Savings account and a large scale Safe Deposit Box. Access is allowed to your family's Vault only with the accompaniment of your legal guardian.

Due to the insecure nature of electronic mail, we require an in-person meeting to confirm your identity and establish the identity of your guardian. After your identity is established, you will receive a secure logon to access our Intranet, through which you can control your assets.

We request your presence at Barclays Bank located at the corner of Fenchurch St and Gracechurch St this Friday. Please ask for Mr. Stewart who will then escort you to the meeting.

Best Regards,

Gringotts Bank  
London Branch

* * *

The bank was obviously built quite recently. It was a creation that could have only made sense in the twisted mind of an architect that had never before seen a bank. It was a towering building, seemingly constructed of only steel beams and the largest panes of glass ever created. The place was designed more to show off the wealth inside than to protect it. With the way the place just screamed money, it was a wonder it hadn't been robbed yet.

Walking inside the giant glass doors proved the architect had a brother who was an interior designer. The flooring was cool marble tiles, not surprising in a bank, but the plush red carpet laid upon them leading from the door to waiting line for a teller. To the left were one of the few walls in the building, and it only came to about four foot high, just tall enough Harry really could see over it.

"So, I guess we just join the queue?" Harry said. The line was short, but orderly. They wound around the first pole, which was a brass monstrosity buried underneath the tile. Connecting each pole was the customary braided red rope, which Harry was contemplating sitting on.

"Don't even think about it." said Nikki, not even bothering to look down.

"I wasn't doing anything." Harry pouted. How did see do that anyway?

"You were thinking about it." Nikki replied. She didn't have to have magic to know that. She was thinking about sitting on the ropes. Everyone who saw them thought about sitting on the ropes. Its like there were charmed to make people want to sit and swing on them.

Looking up, Nikki saw the first sign this place was in fact a bank, there was only one teller working. Fortunately, there was only one customer and he seemed about done. The customer fit in beautifully with the décor. He was tall with silver hair and one of those suits that could only be custom made. By his side, rested a leather briefcase matching the pin striping on his suit.

"Hey Nikki", Harry tugged on her sleeve to get her to bend down. "Do you think he has a different briefcase to match his suits, kind of like girls do with shoes?"

Nikki got a peculiar look on her face, almost like that one time when she had to use the bathroom and there was a long line. "It's very possible." The customer walked out and Harry twisted to watch him leave.

"So, we can go up to the counter now, right?"

"No, we've got to wait until the teller calls us over. They get really upset if you approach before they ask for you."

"Why? She's not doing anything. She's just sitting there."

"No one knows. It's a bank mystery. The only thing that makes less sense is a Barnes and Nobles check out line. Now hush, we've just got to wait." Nikki could wait forever it seems. To Harry, it was taking forever. But he could do waiting. He had learned that from the Dursley's. It was simply a matter of being quiet and still long enough until they forgot about you, and then the waiting would be over.

"Next!" Apparently the teller was ready now, despite nothing happening in the five minutes they had been waiting. Nikki and Harry approached the counter, which was way too tall in Harry's opinion. Why in the world would they build a counter that no one could ever see over? Though it was a lovely counter, all dark wood and slate counter tops.

"How may I help you?" sneered the teller. For some reason she seemed to think they didn't belong there. Perhaps it was Nikki's blue hair or Harry's young age, but apparently she was to above them and could just barely stand to even greet them. Nikki was taken aback for a moment at the sheer amount of disgust present in the woman's voice.

"No. You may however inform Mr. Stewart that Mr. Potter is here to see him." Harry had never heard Nikki speak in such a cold tone.. She really didn't like the teller lady.

The teller picked up the phone and dialed a number, presumably contacting Mr. Stewart. "Mr. Stewart, some people are here to see you. A Mr. Potter and escort." Her face was overcome with a strange look. "Yes, sir. Right away." She hung up the phone and was much more respectful as she directed Harry and Nikki to a little waiting area. "If you'll just wait over there, Mr. Stewart will be out shortly."

The waiting area was nothing more than a couple of leather armchairs against the wall with an end table place in between them.. Obediently, Harry and Nikki walked over to them. "Harry, promise me, no matter how money you have, you never become as snobby as that lady."

"Why would I act like her? She was being rude." Harry was confused. He had learned to act properly back at the Dursley's. Nikki knew this. Why was she trying to teach him manners now?

"Never change Squirt. Never change." Nikki ruffled his hair.

Oh. She was just being an adult. Adults were so weird.

Before the conversation could go any farther, a man interrupted. "Mr. Potter? And guest?" Taking their nods as confirmation, the man continued. "I'm Mr. Stewart. Please come this way." They got up and followed the man into the back of the bank, where to Harry's surprise, walls were present.

The man walked slowly but confidently. He was an elder gentleman, possibly 60, maybe older. He, like the customer earlier, had on a nice suit and shiny shoes. Harry was starting to feel a little underdressed in his tan slacks and polo. His hair was originally brown, but was now mostly gray.

Instead of an office, they were lead to a meeting room, already full of people waiting for them. The meeting room continued the theme of "Look how rich we are". The table was mad of the same dark wood present in the lobby. The floor was a plush tan carpet, with brown leather rolly chairs stationed as close together as possible. Stationed in these chairs, all on the side opposite the door was the people they were supposed to meet.

There was something off about them, but Harry couldn't put his finger on just what it was. He couldn't really describe them, they just were. The one in the middle, obviously the most important one dismissed Mr. Stewart. He then focused his attention on Harry.

"You must be Mr. Potter. Please sit down."

"You're the representatives from Gringotts?" asked Nikki. "We were expecting someone a bit more. . . "

"Goblinish?" said the man, giving a toothy grin. "We use illusions while in the non magically aware public, so as not to cause a panic. This, coupled with a repellant charm is why you find yourself unable to describe us accurately. Now, Mr. Potter, if you could just confirm your identity by taking this simple blood test . . ." He held out a device that looked much like the blood sugar tester a diabetic would use.

Harry just shrugged. He could only assume he was really Harry Potter, so he really had no reason not to take the blood test. He held out his hand and didn't even feel it when his finger was pricked.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Potter." said the man, uhh. . . Goblin. "I am Priok. To my left is Zarzag and my right is Dyedod. And who is your escort today?" he asked gesturing at Nikki.

"My name is Nicole Smith. I'm Harry's current guardian. It's a pleasure to meet you." she said, nodding her head.

"Oh? You have documents to this effect?" asked Priok. Nikki had been prepared for this, and brought both the original guardianship papers and a copy made at the library that morning, which she now handed over. "Good. As our email explained, Mr. Potter is unable to directly control his assets but, his guardian can appoint individuals to manage his finances. Currently, Mr. Potter's assets are frozen, neither making money nor gaining money. As guardian, you can release any percent of his assets to be invested. As Mr.Potter reaches the age of 15, he will receive control of 20 of his assets, and another 10 every quarter until his majority at age 17. This allows him to acquaint himself with his new responsibilities. Any questions so far?" he paused.

"What responsibilities would he have?" asked Nikki. Harry just sat back and listened. He had never really used money before.

"He would be expected to read reports from his financial advisor and make any final decisions. Once he reaches his majority, he would assume any board seats the Potter Account currently holds. Nothing more than would be covered in an Introductory Business and Economics class. Anything else?" he waited, but Nikki seemed satisfied for the moment. "Now, as a guardian, you are entitled to a stipend to cover cost of living and general expenses. Any large purchases must be submitted to an oversight committee which will then deny or approve the expense."

"We are considering home-schooling Mr. Potter. Would any of those cost be covered?" asked Nikki. Harry was surprised. He had mentioned how boring school was and joked about doing better on his own, but Nikki had spoken as if the subject was already settled. And perhaps it was.

"I can not speak for the approval committee, but education is a top priority for us here at Gringotts." answered Priok carefully using lawyer speak.

"As it should be." replied Nikki.

"Well, that about covers everything. Any more questions?" receiving no response, he continued, "No? Very well. Have a nice day Mr. Potter, Mr. Potter's guardian. Mr. Stewart will show you to the door." and with that, the still indescribable goblins, disappeared.

* * *

When Dumbledore had placed Harry at the Dursley's to activate the blood wards using Petunia, he had overlooked on little thing; he personally had no clue how blood wards worked.

The blood referred not to the anchor (Petunia), but to the person being protected, in this case Harry. Blood only denoted that Harry was Lily's kin. The wards drew power not from the blood of the anchor, but from the relationship between the anchor and the protectee. When Lily had created the wards, she had known her lifespan was destined to be considerably shortened, so had set the anchor not to Harry's mother, but to Harry's Guardian. When Dumbledore had left Harry at the Dursley's he had unknowingly assigned Petunia that role.

And then, Harry met Nikki.

Nikki had cared for Harry. That very first day, she had provided shelter for Harry from Dudley. Then, she had feed him. By taking him to the optometrist, she had seen to his physical health.

When Harry had renounced the Dursley's as his home, the wards had weakened considerably. When Petunia had signed the guardianship papers, the wards shut down completely. When Harry identified Nikki as his guardian to the IPO, Nikki gained Muggle guardianship of Harry. When Gringotts acknowledged Nikki as Harry's guardian, the wards too recognized Nikki as Harry's guardian and reformed themselves at her house.

Nikki's relationship with Harry was much like Lily and Harry's relationship. The wards structured themselves much like had been present when Lily first cast the blood ward. Blood wards being the very unpredictable things they are, intertwined with the Fidelius charm already present. A modified version now appeared; hiding the fact Harry was no longer living at the Dursley's.

* * *

A/N

Yes. Bank counters really bug me, because I'm only 5 ft tall and they're built for people at least 6 ft tall. I can only see through the cutout section, and have to stand on my tippy toes to sign things. I was so happy when our local bank built a new location and put in shorter counters because the population is shorter than average here. And my mother works at a bank and still has no clue what the tellers do between one customer and the next. And Barnes and Nobles check out lines scare me. I've seen a guy get thrown out for approaching the counter before the teller called for him. It was really weird.

Okay, the wards explanation makes sense to me, but I know exactly what I'm thinking. Please, feel free to review with your questions and I'll PM with the answers. While the wards may seem like a convenient plot device, I thought of it before the plot so, you decide.

Thanks to everyone who actually read these things. Kudos to chineseartist who recognized Miss Emily Grierson. I'm really bad at names, so I just use names from other fandoms. There's two in Chapter 3 nobody mentioned and a really obvious one in this Chapter. Vanilla Wafers to whoever finds them.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N

Sorry, so sorry. I know this was supposed to be out way earlier, but I got sick this week and spent most of the time sleeping. Then I proved I'm still mildly allergic to caffeine by drinking one of those 5-hour energy drinks and sleeping for the next 18 hours. Yes, caffeine makes me go to sleep. I know, I'm weird. Then this chapter decided it didn't want to be written. Let me know of any plot holes, I wrote this chapter half asleep.

Okay, enough ranting. I apologize for the wait, and hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 6

Her Deviousness

_"Mr. And Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."__  
-Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone  
J. K. Rowling_

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley may have been perfectly normal, but they certainly weren't very well liked. Miss Emily was betting that this very fact would be the Dursley's undoing.

It all started when the first owners of Number Four Privet Drive had died scarcely a week after moving into their newly built home. Poor old Mr. and Mrs. Anderson had lived a long and fulfilling life, traveling around the world, discovering new places after their youngest had moved out. They spent time in all the tourist traps and then took to the back roads to explore areas only Dr. Livingston had seen before. Such a shame they would die only after their children had convinced them to settle down in that new development in Little Whinging. They had died peacefully in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning from a space heater. The whole neighborhood had attended the funeral.

Vernon and Petunia Dursley had bought the house not long after. They were a young couple, just newly married. Mr. Dursley worked at Grunnings Drill Company as the production line manager and was hoping to move into upper management. Mrs. Dursley stayed home all day gossiping about any and every one, making up interesting tidbits when things became too boring.

The day they had moved in, the neighborhood learned just how perfectly normal the Dursley's were. Mr. Dursley had proceeded to loudly criticize every move the professional movers he had hired made. He helpfully gave suggestions from his perch on the sofa he had claimed and prevented the movers from taking inside. Mrs. Dursley had begun greeting her closest neighbor and looked slightly miffed when he told her the Andersons had died in their sleep. The poor man was then interrogated about every faucet of neighborhood life. Mrs. Dursley talked to him for over two hours, mostly trying to get him to share all the sordid details of the affair one of his neighbor's were having.

Later that afternoon, when the movers had finally satisfied Mr. Dursley, or just got annoyed enough and left, some of the neighborhood women got together to form a welcoming committee. As Mrs. Dursley greeted them at the door, she inspected their welcoming dishes. The casserole she refused saying, "Vernon won't eat anything mixed together like that. He likes to be able to identify his food". She then proceeded to share every single detail about Mr. Harwood's affair that she had learned earlier in the day. As she had met neither of the Harwoods, she had no way of knowing Mrs. Harwood was shocked to learn of her husband's affair in such a way.

All the women, none who could say they had never gossiped, were appalled at Mrs. Dursley's actions. She lacked any resemblance of tact. She was blunt in her approach, not even trying to sugarcoat the news. Perhaps, the women thought, Mrs. Dursley had grown up in a lower class neighborhood and didn't understand the importance of manners. That was fine, she'd just have to be invited to the neighborhood get-togethers so they could subtlety teach her proper behavior. Her current behavior couldn't be purposeful.

And if that weren't bad enough, the next day a pile of the Andersons old things, which their family hadn't been able to retrieve yet, were sitting by the curb, just waiting for the trash man to come collect. Working together, the neighborhood was able to find space in the Dilling's garage and get everything moved before they were thrown away.

Four years later things had changed, for the worse. The neighborhood had learned Mrs. Dursley had grown up in a respectable family, all except for her sister who turned out to be a drunken slut. Considering Mrs. Dursley's opinion was the same for every woman more beautiful or wealthy than her was the same, it was concluded Mrs. Dursley's sister was probably a beautiful, generous person, who had gained a good station in life. Ernie, the mailman, informed the neighborhood that Mrs. Dursley had viciously destroyed what in his expert opinion was an invitation to her sister's wedding. Mrs.. Dursley continued to be a self centered, belligerent, and just plain rude to guests and strangers alike.

Mr. Dursley had recently been promoted to his coveted upper management position. He was earning much more an hour, certainly, as he put it, "More than you have ever seen". He spent his money lavishly, buying a new car once, sometimes twice a year, paying a service to landscape his yarn and cut the grass, and purchasing Mrs. Dursley the fine clothing she desired, which honestly was gaudy and tasteless. He had also took up golf, and was spending a large amount of time at the nearby country club. He was rather upset that he still had not been inducted into the exclusive echelons of membership. He did not realize you could not buy your way into the society of the rich, you had to be invited.

Then their son, Dudley came along. He was born a quiet, healthy baby and blossomed under his parents' care into a loud, fussy chunk-ball.. Their closest neighbors had taken to buying earplugs just to sleep through the nightly cries for milk. In just 18 months, little Dudley was on track to become a combination of the worst aspects of his parents. His weight problems were nowhere near the heftiest if his troubles. He also had his father's drive for self-promotion and his mother's need for the belittlement of others. And his parents refused to teach their darling, precious, little son manners or self-restraint. The grocer noticed the Dursley's food bill had tripled since Dudley had stopped eating baby food. At the current rate, little Dudley would weigh 20 stones (280lbs) by his 11th birthday.

His first birthday was a neighborhood affair, with all the children obligated to spend the afternoon at the Dursley's. There was every imaginable attraction present. The back yard featured miniature pony rides, a clown, a magician, and a piñata. The children were forced to watch as Mrs. Dursley opened all of Dudley's numerous expensive presents while Dudley played with wrapping paper on his mother's lap. Mr. Dursley insisted on videotaping the whole event, pausing to take pictures as each present was revealed. They then sung Happy Birthday and watched as 1 year old Dudley planted his face right in the middle of the cake. Needless to say, no guests ate any cake.

The Dursleys loved holding outlandish celebrations for any possible reason. St. Patrick's Day resulted in green beer and green food being force feed to any guest brave enough to enter the Dursley's home. Bank holidays resulted in large barbeques where guest received possibly the cheapest cut of steak possible, burnt to a crisp. Guy Fawkes Day saw a large fireworks display at a nearby park, provided of course, for the most part of Mr. Dursley. Even Christmas, traditionally a time for family and close friends, saw a raving party, and a house which looked like Christmas had threw up on it. Everyone and anyone were allowed to walk in the front door and get shit-faced drunk on boxed wine and cheap beer.

The only day they refused to celebrate was Halloween. They would not attend any parties, did not trick or treat, and even refused to answer the door if anyone bothered to ring the doorbell. They would not venture outside their house for the whole 24 hours that was October 31. Therefore, the neighborhood was shocked when Mrs. Dursley informed them her sister had died in a drunken car crash the night before and she had been saddled with her terror of a child.

They had heard all about Mrs. Dursley's sister, and knowing Mrs. Dursley and her opinions of her sister, they (rightly) figured she was an okay lady. Thus, since Mrs. Dursley didn't like her son, he would probably turn out alright as well. Some of the neighborhood ladies were able to meet the unfortunate soul who had being unlucky enough to be placed with the Dursleys during that week's tea party. They chose to hold the tea at Mrs. Dursley's house because she had two young children she needed to look after. The afternoon offered a frightening glimpse of the years to come.

The get together was frequently interrupted by Dudley's constant whining and cries for attention. Despite all their parenting advice, Mrs. Dursley continued to constantly attend to her son's every want, even though she should have just let him cry himself to sleep. During one of the frequent breaks, where Mrs. Dursley had rushed out of the room to see to Dudley's latest request, one of the ladies, Mrs. Dilling, noticed young Harry laying on the changing table. He was self-contentedly blowing bubbles and tasting every toe he could fit in his mouth. Having a few children of her own, she identified the smell emanating from him immediately and set to changing his diaper. Noticing he had the beginnings of diaper rash, she also spread some cream. She was just washing her hands, when Mrs. Dursley re-entered the room. "Oh Petunia dear, would you mind terribly if I warmed up a bottle for Harry. It's been such a long time since mine own were young enough to hold and I fear I miss it a tad."

"If you must. He refuses to behave for me, always squirming and crying. Won't even drink formula, so we've put him on cow's milk." Petunia replied. Harry just grinned sweetly up at Mrs. Dilling, showing off a full set of teeth.

"Well look at that. He's got all his teeth. No wonder he he's fussy after a bottle, he's probably on solid food by now and still hungry. Perhaps some cereal instead of that bottle, Petunia?" Mrs. Dilling commented. How could Petunia not see little Harry needed more than a few ounces of milk? By the size of him, Dudley was already on solid food, so why did she even still have formula in the house? She couldn't still be giving it to Dudley, could she? All the baby books recommended replacing formula with whole milk by their first birthday so the child's brain could develop. "Why don't you ladies stay here and me and little Harry here will go see what we can find in the kitchen? Alright, Petunia?"

Petunia was caught between a rock and a hard place, or in this case, looking bad and losing face. She couldn't refuse Mrs. Dilling's request, but she didn't want her slut of a sister's brat to eat her precious Dudley's food. "Go ahead, but I'm afraid the poor boy has been unable to eat baby food." There, surely Mrs. Dilling wouldn't care enough about the ragamuffin to cook him a meal.

"That's fine, Petunia. We'll just see what we can whip up, won't we Harry?" And with that, Mrs. Dilling proceeded to the kitchen where she first cooked and then fed Harry the first real meal he had received at the Dursleys, a wonderful concoction of oatmeal and peach mash. It would also be the only meal, other than those unfulfilling bottles until next week's tea, where the process was repeated all over again.

The years passed and Harry's situation changed very little. The Dursleys ate large amounts of food at every sitting, but only the good stuff, leaving the less desirable things for Harry. This, being the Dursleys, gave Harry the most nutritious, if limited diet. He was almost a vegetarian, not by choice, but because the Dursleys always ate all pieces of meat before he was allowed to eat. The only meat he had really ever had was grilled chicken, which Dudley had complained didn't have as much flavor as fried chicken. He also drank plenty of milk, simply because Dudley refused to drink whole milk over his favorite baby formula, so Petunia assumed the formula was better and gave Harry the worse of the two. Anything Dudley liked, Harry wasn't allowed to eat, leaving Harry to eat only the things Dudley didn't like, which was possibly the best thing that every happened to Harry. Instead of the empty calorie, sugar filled diet Dudley was consuming; Harry ate whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and never touched sugars or fats.

In other ways, the wrongs the Dursleys thought they were doing to Harry were actually helping him. He wasn't allowed to watch television or play with any of Dudley's toys, except for the books Dudley had graciously granted upon him. Neither Petunia nor Vernon knew the joy of reading so were more than happy to gift Harry such a worthless thing. Besides, they certainly would never buy anything as boring as a book, they had been gifts from the freaks next door. Harry had precious few toys, certainly nothing as fancy as Dudley's, but he could content himself with only a spoon, a couple rocks, a feather, some buttons, and a handful of old leaves.

At the young age of 4, Petunia had started him on household chores like cooking breakfast, vacuuming and doing the laundry. Harry didn't mind cooking, he enjoyed seeing which combinations of food would create culinary masterpieces (those the Dursleys didn't like) and which would create grease-filled pieces of slop (those the Dursleys did like). By the time Harry was 8, he did the shopping, cleaning, and cooking at the Dursley residence, effectively giving him all the skills he would need to survive on his own. Dudley, however, could fart on cue.

When his chores were done, Harry was kicked out of Number Four Privet Drive until dark. If it was nice out, he might visit the park and play with the other kids, or explore the deep dark and mysterious woods, aka a tiny stand of trees maybe 100 yards across. Only his imagination, and how far he could walk, limited where he could go. When it was raining, as it was ought to do in England, Harry stopped by the any of the neighbors, all who were more than happy to let him stay. As a plus, on those days, he normally got lunch.

The neighbors all looked out for Harry the best they could. They disapproved of him running around the neighborhood without supervision so they all kept an eye on him and warmly made him like a member of their own families. They had their suspicions he wasn't being feed enough, so piled up the calories when he stopped in. And there was the barest inkling he was being abused, but they couldn't prove it beyond the Dursley's obvious negligence of the boy.

Harry's early life had shaped him in ways no one had yet realized. He had been exposed to a wide mixture of cultures, everything from the upper class home of Miss Emily, to the strict Asian ways of the Chen family. He enjoyed a wide variety of cuisine, from the wonderful curries at the Patel home to traditional Scottish fare at the Smiths. He learned to share, simply because he didn't have any toys to be selfish about. All in all, Harry became the child it took Little Whinging to raise.

* * *

The plan included simultaneous attacks on numerous fronts. First was Dudley, which Miss Emily thought would be the easiest to terrify. Dudley, at his core, was raised to be a bully and bullies are notoriously easily bullied their selves. He was also easy to deal with with very little effort on her part. Dudley had been bullying the neighborhood children for years.

It was disturbingly easy to convince the parents to compile and present a united report of Dudley's more recent crimes to the local constable. Several children still had bruises from where Dudley and his gang of thugs had beat them up until they had willing given him their money. With little persuading, the local primary school discovered security videos showing the reported incidents. The principal was willing to share the amazingly large pile of complaints from children, teachers, staff members, and concerned parents about Dudley's behavior. After looking over the records, the principal was most concerned Dudley had never been reprimanded and the complainants had often recanted their testimony.

The nice police officers had kindly escorted Dudley from the park, where he had been found standing over an injured 6 year old to the police station. There they had placed a call to the Dursley home informing them their darling son was being held on assault and battery charges. Sadly, it seems the station had a leak, and the news of Dudley's detainment quickly spread. The neighborhood turned out en masse, everyone from the youngest children who had been attacked and ridiculed, to the oldest citizen who had seen their property damaged and destroyed decided to voice their opinions loudly and longly inside the station.

Faced with the depth and breath of Dudley's crimes, the police began wondering how such behavior had been overlooked for so long. It was decided Dudley was to be placed in a juvenile facility, St. Brutus Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys, until the situation could be decided in court. The school records were the most worrisome. Dudley had failed the past two years, but had somehow managed to be passed along. All of his teachers had filed behavior upon behavior reports, colloquially known as pink slips, detailing his many offenses, and yet, there was no record of any action being taken in response.

The next day, Detective Inspector Vincent visited Little Whinging Primary School to further investigate the complaints and update the school on Dudley Dursley's new educational situation. The vice-principal was shocked to learn Dudley Dursley, whose father, Vernon, was such a charitable man who donated generously to the school, was in such serious trouble to require the police. Sure, the boy had been in playground skirmishes before, but Vernon assured the vice-principal he was bring severely punished and the fights had been instigated by other children. Mr. Dursley and the vice principal had played golf for years, and neither of them were yet a member of the local country club. They had bonded quite well while ranting over the injustices that upstanding member of society like themselves had to overcome. "You can't mean Dudley Dursley. He's such a nice boy, always taking the fall for crimes his horrible younger cousin commits. That's it. Mr. Potter must have done all these crimes, and blamed Dudley for them."

"I'm sorry." said the police officer, confused. "Who is Mr. Potter?" the name Potter hasn't appeared anywhere in their investigation yet so far.

The vice-principal reached behind him to the easy access drawer, the one where the frequent offenders were kept, and pulled out a manila folder. "Mr. Harry Potter. The Dursley were kind enough to take him in after his parents got themselves killed in a drunken car crash.". He handed the folder over to the investigators. "Vernon gave me plenty of warning before he started so I could be on the look out for his bad behavior. They think the boy might have autism or some developmental problem because he's so lifeless compared to Dudley."

Any good investigator could tell the vice-principal had some serious bias going on. The lack of punishments for Dudley Dursley was starting to make sense. The officers were willing to bet Mr. Potter had spent more than his fair share of time in the Vice-Principal's office, probably for offenses that had never been reported. "Could you set up a room where we can look over both of the boys' files and possibly meet with their teachers after school?"

At this, the vice-principal paused. Obviously he knew, at least subconsciously, his conflict of interest would be visible once the investigation really got started. He scowled. "You'll have to talk to Principal Baker. If that's all?"

Now that it was clear the officers were not going to immediately share his opinion, he didn't even have the time to show them to the principal's office. It was extremely easy to find as the secretary had called principal Baker as the officers had been intercepted by the vice-principal. "Gentlemen, I'm Principal Baker. How may I help you?"

"Investigators Bryant and Greene. We're looking into accusations against Dudley Dursley. Is there an area where we can review his file and meet with his teachers later?"

Principal Baker looked astonished. An investigation into one of his students? And he was only hearing about it now? "Of course. You can use my office. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"Could you call down Harry Potter? We haven't had a chance to talk to him yet."

The secretary had no problem paging Mr. Potter. He was such a polite little boy. She disagreed with the way the vice principal had been treating Harry from his very first day of school. Now, it seemed as both the vice principal, the principal, and the two officers were planning on ganging up on the poor boy. Well that would never do. She would just have to give a call to Nikki. Surely his guardian should be present while the police were interrogating him.

Harry entered the office warily. He was used to being called down to the vice principal's office and yelled at for things Dudley had done, but he had never met the principal before. "Sir? You wanted to speak to me?".

"Harry. Sit down." The principal nodded towards the chair in front of the desk. "Surely you know by now your cousin's been arrested."

"No sir! What does that have to do with me?" Now that they were in different classes, and Harry was living with Nikki, he hadn't seen Dudley all week. Which was surprising. Dudley didn't usually pass on his favorite sport of Harry Hunting.

"You mean to tell me the Dursleys were out all last night and you didn't notice a thing?" Even the most oblivious child must have noticed his guardians not being home at night.

"No. Why would I?" Harry was confused. Since he had moved out, the Dursleys didn't even acknowledge him as they passed on the street.

All were brought out of their mutual confusion as the secretary knocked on the door. "Sir? Ms. Smith to see you."

Nikki blew in like the force of nature only a worried mother could be. Glancing at Harry, she could see he wasn't too terribly terrified so she leveled her glare at the other occupants of the room. "Gentlemen. May I ask what this meeting is about?"

The officers were wondering just how many levels this investigation would uncover. "Who are you ma'am?" asked Inspector Greene.

"Nicole Smith. Harry's guardian. Surely you know that?"

"No ma'am. We were under the impression Mr. Potter was living with the Dursley family. That is why we were questioning him. His cousin Dudley was arrested last night."

"No. Harry moved in with me after the Dursleys kicked him out last month. While your investigating them, do you perhaps think you could trouble yourself to look into the numerous reports of child abuse that have been conveniently forgotten?" Nikki could do nasty and sarcastic very well.

Once more, the officers were stunned. Child abuse? And abandonment? Maybe the Dursleys did deserve very close scrutiny. "Would you be willing to accompany Inspector Greene down to the station and give a full statement? I'm afraid this is the first we've heard of these charges, but I personally promise they will not be forgotten this time." responded Inspector Bryant. Like all cops, he particularly dislike crimes against children. He was already planning official interviews with every teacher both Mr. Dursley and Mr. Potter had ever had. He also planned to place a call to have a couple of uniforms arrest Mr. and Mrs. Dursley in the most public way possible.

* * *

Grunnings was a respectable place where blue-collared workers came to assemble drills in hopes of rising to a place in upper management. Most of the workers had no problem with the bosses. They were once just like them, and remembered that life, so treated their workers with respect and dignity. All except Mr. Dursley.

Everyone had been glad when Mr. Dursley had been promoted from shift manager to a cushioney office job. He was rude and hostile, and more likely to solve a problem by firing someone than any other way. He lorded his good fortune over all the workers, to the point where people would trade to get assigned to any shift but his. Having him away from the workers was the best decision Human Resources had ever made. Soon, it would also become the worst.

At exactly 12:00, just as the lunch whistle blew, the police stormed the building. Loudly calling for directions to Dursley's office, they moved through the building, batons drawn. Arriving at Mr. Dursley's office, they burst through the door, interrupting Dursley on the phone. He was quickly taken down and handcuffed. One officer picked up the phone, informed the person on the other end Mr. Dursley had just been arrested and hung up without another word.

As they led Dursley out the door, Mr. Grunning himself approached an officer. "What's going on?"

"We've arrested Mr. Dursley on suspicion of child abuse and abandonment. We have reason to believe he may have committed other crimes as well. Perhaps you should check your financial records?" And with that, the police disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.

Petunia was in a sad state. First, that boy had left and she was forced to do grocery shopping once more. Then, her darling son had been arrest on trumped up charges last night. And CPS would even release him into their custody since the police said they were still investigating charges. Like it was her and Vernon's fault. It was all the Potter boy's fault. The freak. If he had never come to live with them, none of this would ever had happened. Now, she was checking out and was shocked that groceries could cost so much. But her little Dudley would need all of his strength to get through this terrible ordeal.

So focused was she on making sure the cashier didn't try and cheat her, she never noticed the grocery mart go silent as the officers entered. She did however notice when one tapped her on the shoulder. "What!" she spun around ready to tell off some hapless victim.

"Mrs. Petunia Dursley?" asked a uniformed police officer. At her stunned nod, he continued. "If you could turn around and place your hands behind your back. You're under arrest for child abuse and abandonment.

The all the shoppers and tellers watched as Mrs. Petunia Dursley was led out of the Grocery Mart with her head held high.

Miss Emily grinned. She loved it when a plan came together with minimal effort on her part.

* * *

Dudley Dursley was found guilty of numerous counts of assault, battery, robbery, extortion, and terroristic threating. He was removed from his parents care and placed into a foster home. The judge hoped an environment away from his parents would turn him around. Unfortunately, he was wrong and Dudley had been caught drinking just 3 months after his trial. He was then placed in St. Brutus Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys for 7 years and would be released on his 16 birthday.

Vernon Dursley was sentenced to 5 years for child abuse and abandonment of Mr. Harry Potter and 5 years for child abuse which led to Mr. Dudley Dursley's crimes. He then received 10 additional years for embezzlement of company funds from Grunnings. It seemed most of his purchases had not been made on his salary alone, but on the salary of three additional dummy employees which reported to work only on paper. He also received charges of terroristic threating and blackmail, but the prosecutor decided not to pursue these crimes to protect the innocent.

Petunia Dursley was sentenced to 5 years for child abuse and abandonment of Mr. Harry Potter and 5 years for child abuse which led to Mr. Dudley Dursley's crimes. Shortly after her trial she was transferred to the Mental Health Prison Hospital where she is receiving longterm care for her delusion that there exists a magical world which is kept secret from everyone. Doctors believe her delusions are what led to her abuse of Mr. Potter. They fear she may never recover.

* * *

A/N

No, the Patels are not from Hogwarts. All the last names in this chapter came from friends of mine, the Patels, who are Indian American, the Smiths, who are traditionally Scottish, and the Chens, who are Chinese American. Not really important, just giving Harry a little culture.

I couldn't really blame Dudley for his behavior. I feel Petunia was always unable to say no to him so its feasible he still drank baby formula into his toddler years. After a year switch to toddler formula or whole milk. The vitamins help in mental development. Also television during young years has been linked to ADHD. So it's really not Dudley's fault.

Yes, parents can be tried for their child's crimes. At least, according to Law and Order they can be.

I apologize in advance for next chapter. I have no idea where this story's going, so it might take a while, but I hoping for a week, two weeks at most. I can already tell you it won't be a Hogwarts chapter. I've got some loose ends to tie up first.

Vote: Hagrid? Yea? Nay?


	7. Chapter 7

A/N

Two weeks just like I said.

Poor Hagrid. Nobody wanted him. tear I'm still not sure what I'm doing for Diagon Alley, but it won't be a teacher, sorry.

* * *

Chapter 6

Going Crazy

After the great spectacle with the Dursleys getting themselves arrested, Nikki had decided it was time for them to take their first ever family vacation. Harry had donequite well staying composed while testifying and Nikki had officially been granted custody by the courts. Now, only being declared unfit could allow someone to take Harry away from her. And what better way to celebrate than a relaxing week on the sunny beaches of Costa Blanca, Spain.

Harry had finish his first Online Magic Class with top marks. The OLP officials had sent her a copy of his grades and she was pleased to see his teacher had recommended Harry be allowed to take a full schedule of classes. The officials were a bit more wary, and suggested Harry only take 3 classes instead of the normal course load of 5, at least for one semester. She was surprised to be invited to take a class designed specifically for parents of magical children. She was also given a list of discussion boards she could access to talk about Harry's abilities.

She had written to the bank and the expense oversight committee about purchasing a laptop for Harry to use for his classes. She had included research stating the advantages having a computer would give Harry and asked for a laptop so he could be portable and for its security advantages. They had agreed to cover half of the costs, but asked her to purchase a computer built outside the United Kingdom, claiming they were better insulated against magical interference. She hadn't told Harry yet, but she figured they would buy one while on vacation.

Harry had loved flying on the airplane to Costa Blanca. The trip had been short, but exciting. She had graciously allowed him to have the window seat while she sat by the aisle, holding the armrest in a death grip and praying the big flying contraption stayed in the air. Thankfully, Harry was preoccupied with actually flying to notice she was terrified or he would have teased her mercilessly.

* * *

Lying on the sunny beach of Costa Blanca, Harry thought about all the things which had happened since March. He had finished Year 4 and his first OLP class. School sucked and was so boring. They never did anything. OLP class was fun though. He got to learn all the different cultures where magic was practiced and how the real story differed from the official story. He learned how some places were much more open about practicing magic, like the Caribbean Islands, the Native American peoples and the Eastern cultures and other places were much more secretive, like Britain. It seems it was illegal in Britain to do magic in front of the Non-Magically Awares.

In the wonderful heat of the midday sun, Harry was working quite hard to drift off to sleep. However it seemed it was just not to be. He groaned and flopped over. He had already check the ground underneath his towel and it was pristine, clear of rocks and shells. He had ran down the beach, played a game of football, and even gone for a swim, but he just couldn't quiet his brain enough to fall asleep. A shadow passed over him. "Its the Pucknies."

"Perdón?" he responded automatically before realizing the female had spoke English with a familiar British accent. Giving up any hope of taking a nap today, he opened his eyes to see a pair of grey eyes just inches from his own.

"The Pucknies. They're all around you." The girl, he could see her now, moved back to sit on her heels. With a little more space, Harry could see she was about his own age and judging by her pale skin and British accent was not a local.

Several moments passed in awkward silence. The girl was seemingly content to just sit and stare off into space. No, wait a moment. Her eyes were moving. She was following something moving around his head. Taking a chance he plunged ahead. "My name's Harry." At his words, her eyes snapped back to meet his gaze.

"I know." she responded matter-of-factly. "I'm Luna." She studied him carefully, taking note of his bemused expression. She cocked her head to one side. "You don't look very Hairy."

Harry took a moment to really study her. She was neatly dressed in a one piece bathing suit with a tied on cover up. Behind her laid a kite featuring a very realistic dragon, looking almost like the Chinese Fireball he had studied in his OLP Cultures class. Once more, he noticed her eyes tracking something he couldn't see. Coming to a quick decision, he responded, "And you don't look very crazy."

Her only concession of amazement was rapid blinking. She had been quite willing to be perceived as crazy for a chance to meet the famous Harry Potter, but to have him willing to believe her after everyone else she had met had immediately decided she was insane threw her for a loop. Is it possible the hero of the wizarding world could be so . . . nice?

"What do they look like?" asked Harry, completely serious. He could clearly see her watching something and his classes had spent 3 whole lessons on extra sensory perception, prophets and cross-dimensional sight. Besides she obviously had some connection with the magical world to have such a realistic kite.

Luna was so stunned, she lost her balance and plopped straight on her butt. "You believe me?" she sounded close to tears.

It was Harry's turn to blink. Even as a 9 year old, he was certain he would never understand girls. "Any reason I shouldn't?"

Apparently that was the correct answer, because she narrowed her eyes at something off in space and began to describe a fantastical creature to Harry. "Pucknies. They're about 3 inches tall, blue humanoid creatures with wings. Like a miniature Cornish Pixie. They're what Shakespeare based his fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream off of. They like playing jokes on people."

"Can you teach me how to see them?"

To Luna, this was quickly becoming the most interesting conversation she had ever had. Her maternal family had long been known as insane but really, it was because they taught their children _witchsight_, the ability to see creatures which were normally invisible. Luna loved interacting with the different creatures most people ignored and so was considered most unusual by her friends. She dreamed of one day, when she was all grown up, of showing the world all the things they were too busy to notice. It had never occurred to her to _teach_ someone else how to see what she saw.

"I... I'm not sure how." Well that was a rather large obstacle. Now he would never want to be friends with Loony Lovegood. "Wait. Let's go ask Mum. She taught me. Maybe she can teach you."

* * *

Most days Pythia Lovegood was sad she had ignored her mother's warnings and taught her daughter _witchsight_ at such a young age. Luna was a darling child, never loud or fussy, but she never seemed to be connected with the world. She was always so interested in what she could see with her _witchsight_ that she completely missed the real world. She was worried that Luna would grow up completely ignored and be nothing more then fodder for other children's jokes.

Today however, her decision had brought her a chance to meet the famous Harry Potter.

He was much different then she had imagined he would be. He was quiet and polite instead of as obnoxious as say, a Malfoy. Even as a 9 year old, he was shorter then she expected. Surprisingly, he seemed to be missing large chunks in his education. He recognized both her Native American dream catcher and her Tibetan Walking Staff, but was completely befuddled by her wand.

Furthermore, he had no guardian in sight. What kind of guardian would allow him to walk around knowing that Voldemort's supporters could be anywhere?

"Hi, Mummy." Luna had said as she and Harry literally skipped in the door. "Harry wants to learn _witchsight_. Can you teach him? Pretty please?" Both Harry and Luna had given her puppy dog eyes just begging her to give in and how could she resist. Even as she was nodding yes, Luna was already pulling Harry towards her room. "Come on Harry. I want to show you my Harry Potter doll."

"Your WHAT?! Your Harry Potter doll?! Why do you have a doll of me?" was all she had time to hear as the whirlwind that was two 8 & 9 year olds passed by.

* * *

"Why your famous, of course. Don't you know? Here." she thrust the Harry Potter doll into his hands. "I think I brought my story book with me somewhere." She dove into her hotel room closet, digging through the pile of stuff she had dumped there after her Mum had took the shrinking charm off of her bags.

Harry took the time to study the doll in his hands. It looked scarily like him. It had the pale white skin he used to have before he started playing football and spending all that time outside. It had his messy black hair, but cut much shorter then his was. The doll was even wearing glasses, except his were thinner and silver instead of black. "Hey! It's even got my scar."

Luna's voice came from somewhere inside the closet. "Of course it does. That's the whole point."

Harry barely even hear her. He was much more interested in the strange doll he held. "But it's eyes are the wrong color. I have green eyes and it had blue."

Luna reappeared clutching a book in her hands. "You must have had blue eyes as a baby. Just like your dad. That's who they based the doll off of, you know." She handed the book out to Harry. He took it and sat down as he read the title.

**_"Harry Potter: The Boy-Who-Lived"_**

**_"Once upon a time there was a boy named Harry Potter. He lived happily with his parents James and Lily Potter in a cozy house in Godric's Hallow."_**

Here he stopped and looked up at Luna with tears in his eyes. "Are these my parents?" At her nod, he almost started to cry. "I've never seen a picture of them before." At this Luna didn't know what to say, so Harry steeled himself and continued.

**_"There also lived an evil wizard You-Know-Who. He did many bad things around the land and hurt many people._**

**_The Potters wanted Harry to grow up to live a happy life, so they went into hiding under the Fidelius charm. They lived together in peace for 3 months._**

**_Then on Halloween Night, 1991, their Secret Keeper, Sirius Black, betrayed them and told You-Know-Who where they were hiding. He went to their house to kill them all._**

**_He first ran into James who fought bravely so his wife and son had time to run. He then ran into Lily who sacrificed herself for little Harry._**

**_But when he tried to hurt Harry, his curse rebounded and killed him._**

**_Little Harry had killed the evil wizard You-Know-Who. The whole world rejoiced. And Harry was sent to live where no one could ever harm him, but he'll be back to protect the Wizarding World if we shall ever need help."_**

As he finished they both sat in silence. Harry still digesting the story while Luna not wanting to upset him. "Is this true, Luna?" he finally asked. She just nodded. "Can I keep this?" Another nod. "Can I come back tomorrow?" Again, a nod. "Thanks."

* * *

The next day, Harry was in a better mood. Nikki and him and sat up all night discussing the children's book. She had been just as horrified as him to learn how his parents had died. She had insisted on accompanying him to meet the people who had given him the book. They had also talked about how they author of the book seemed to expect him to save the world and how he should ignore that pressure, because it wasn't his responsibility.

At the door to the Luna's hotel room, they knocked and Luna's mother answered. "Good morning." Nikki began. "I'm Nicole Smith, Harry's guardian, and I was wondering if we could come in and talk to you about some things."

Luna's Mom nodded. "I'm Pythia Lovegood. Please come in. Harry dear, Luna's in her room if you want to play." She led them farther inside the suite. Harry rushed off to Luna's door and didn't even have time to knock as Luna opened the door and dragged him inside. Pythia and Nikki sat at a little table. "I've actually been wanting to speak with you. You shouldn't let Harry wander around on his own like that. He could get hurt."

"Yes. About that. I personally am not magically. We knew Harry was magically, but yesterday was the first time we had heard of this Boy-Who-Lived business. I was wondering if you could tell me more about it, and maybe direct me towards some books with a bit more information."

"No one told you of Harry's past when you became his guardian?" asked Pythia incredulously.

"I assumed guardianship from his relatives, the Dursleys. I'm afraid they weren't the best suited to caring for a little child and I had very little contact with them."

"Well, that will never do. You can't be raising Harry Potter and be ignorant of the Wizarding World. But I assume you live in Muggle England...I mean in a non-magical area? What's the best way to contact you?"

"Well, I'm getting Harry a computer while we're here in Spain, so that would probably be best."  
At this, Harry who had clearly been listening at the door with Luna, burst into the main sitting area.

"A computer! My own computer! What kind? When? Where? Will I be able to talk to Luna?" He was obviously very excited about getting a computer.

"I do believe we shall be getting a computer as well." said Pythia. Luckily, with her work for the Unspeakables, she was familiar with computers. Unlike the rest of Wizarding Britain, they routinely used the latest technology in their everyday life.

And with that, two new laptops were purchased, a flurry of emails were exchanged, and Harry's first real friendship was made.

* * *

Arabella Fig was exhausted. As a Squib she recognized there were very few profession available to her, not because she was incapable of the work but because of the stigmatizism attached to being a Squib. Her lack of magic would not have prevented her from doing any number of purely paperwork jobs in the Ministry, but they refused to hire Squibs. If she had been allowed to attend Muggle school, she could have gotten a job as a Muggle, but sadly that too was frowned upon. Really, she was lucky her parents hadn't killed her at birth, as the more prominent pureblood families did. Her sole means of supporting herself these days was her Kneazle breeding business.

Of course, as a Squib she was unable to own a pure Kneazle, for how could she be counted upon to hide their distinctive lion-like tail. However, with careful breeding, she was able to create a line of part-Knealzes that kept all the intelligence and loyalty of Kneazles but could pass for a house cat. Anyone though could breed a Kneazle with a common tabby. Her specialties lied in breeding show quality cats with pureblood Kneazles to produce beautiful, easily recognizable breeds of cats with the inner characteristics of the Kneazle. Most people frowned down upon her work, but her cats sold quicker, lived longer and were smarter than most Kneazles.

Her job required much more work than was immediately obvious. She had to find the best quality purebred house cats with which to breed her Kneazles. She subscribe to numerous cat breeding magazines, the local association, and wrote tons of letters to breeders worldwide. She had only today returned from a sixth month buying trip through the United States and Canada. She was then further delayed for three days at the airport while Customs put her cats in quarantine.

Upon her arrival on Wisteria Walk she was to check up on Harry Potter and the Dursleys over on Privet Drive and report to Professor Dumbledore. She was extremely tired and decided it could wait until morning. Its such a shame she did not, for if she had what happened next could have been avoided. Instead she fire-called Professor Dumbledore, informed him everything was okay, and collapsed onto her bed.

By the bright sunlight of morning, she strolled down Privet Drive and knocked upon Number 4's door. Instead of Petunia as she expected, a harried looking young mother carrying a crying infant answered the door. "Can I help you?" she asked as she attempted to bounce the child and feed it a bottle at the same time.

Arabella had never known Petunia to have friends over except for the weekly tea, and certainly had never seen her allow a young child inside the house. Having a guest answer the door was also strange. Usually Harry or Petunia answered the door, unless the Dursleys were expecting a dinner guest than Dudley would answer the door in a ill-fitting tuxedo. "Yes. I'm looking for Petunia. Could you tell her Mrs. Figg is here?"

"I'm sorry. No one by that name lives here. Are you sure you've got the right house?" responded the young mother. They had bought the house only recently and the moving boxes were still stacked around the living room. She had heard rumors that the former owner of the house had ended up in the loony bin, but she could spread something that was so unlikely to be true. The woman, Mrs. Figg had she called herself, could ask someone who actually knew what was going on.

"Number 4, Privet Drive. Vernon and Petunia Dursley's house. What have you done to them?! You killed them, didn't you!"

Now she had tried to be polite, but she would not have some crazy old lady call her a murderer while her child was screaming for a bottle. "Good day." she said smartly, closing the door in the old bat's face. Seriously, how rude!

* * *

Arabella was quite worried. Something bad must have happened to the Dursleys. They knew they had to stay at Number 4, Privet Drive for their own protection. They could have been killed or kidnapped by supporters of You-Know-Who. First, she should report this to the police before she worried Professor Dumbledore with baseless accusations. He was so busy, what with running the school and helping the Minister.

The police were being most unhelpful. She had started to make her report and the officer at the front desk had stopped her and asked her to calm down. Now wasn't the time to be calm. Harry and the Dursleys were in trouble. "I'm telling you, someone's done something to the Dursleys. Somebody has moved into their house."

The officer got a strange look on his face. He knew that name. Weren't the Dursleys that couple whose kid had been bullying the neighborhood and they had kicked their nephew out to go live with some random stranger? "I'm sorry, Ma'am. Vernon and Petunia Dursley? I'm afraid they've been arrested for child endangerment, abuse, and neglect. Would you like to make a complaint against them?"

"Arrested?! They can't be arrested! Who's going to look after Harry? He's in danger. The Dursleys must be released so they can protect Harry." Arabella Figg was most distraught. The protection relied on Harry staying with Petunia. He was living in constant danger.

The officer was worried. This lady was clearly crazy. They had already received a call about her trying to force her way into Number 4, Privet Drive and raving against the new owner when she was denied entrance. She hadn't hurt anyone yet, and only seemed worried about protect the Dursleys nephew, Harry. But she couldn't stay here in the Station lobby. "Ma'am, could a couple officers give you a ride home?" Knowing he would be interested in any new developments in the case, the officer called up Inspector Greene to escort the lady back to her house.

Arabella was too concerned with making her plans to inform Professor Dumbledore and cover his mistake last night that she was unaware she was muttering to herself. Inspector Greene became quite worried about the poor old lady as she began to mutter things like "Kill." "Dead. They're all dead." and "Voldemort's already gotten them." However sad the situation might be, he was unable to get the lady psychiatric treatment unless she proved a danger to herself or the community and thus forth, she had been physically dangerous.

Arriving at Number 15 Wisteria Walk, Inspector Greene helped the lady from the car and into her house. She went immediately to the fireplace, which was already lit and threw something into it. As she knelt down and began to stick her head into in, Inspector Greene jumped forward and pulled her back. Clearly she was in more need of help than he previously thought. She had left a open fire burning while she left the house with cats every where and then almost caused herself harm by sticking her head into the fire.

Great. An involuntary commitment was always so much paperwork.

Petunia would be surprised to to have a familiar neighbor.

* * *

The day was wonderful, bright and sunny, a rarity in the United Kingdom where rain was the norm. The children of Little Whinging Primary School had been kicked out of the classroom to give their teachers a moment of peace, umm... were sent outside for recess and were enjoying the chance for physical exercise. The girls were hanging out on the monkey bars and the swings, chatting away about all the recent news. The boys were supposedly playing football, but mostly just kicking each other in the shins.

One groups of boys were playing a curious game of tag. The smallest boy seemed to be running while the bigger boys gave chase. They were leading him towards the back of the school like a pack of wild dogs herd their prey into a more convenient area. Just as the tall skinny chaser in the front was about to reach the poor boy they were after, the littlest boy gave a great jump and somehow ended up on the roof.

The bullies, for that is what they were stood dumbfounded with shock. Like any good sheeple when faced with the impossible, they quickly rationalized it and determined the boy had been caught up by the extremely strong, non-existent wind. Then, deprived of their sole source of amusement for the moment, they slowly wandered away, foiled once more. Like a scolded dog, they slunk away to go sulk in some dark, dank corner of the playground.

And Harry Potter found himself stuck on the roof of Little Whinging Primary School.

At least until the janitor came to escort him to Vice Principal Jones's Office.

* * *

Nikki was taking advantage of some infrequent downtime at the library to talk with Miss Emily. Over a couple cups of tea, the two of them were chatting about Harry's education. For the past few weeks, Nikki had noticed Harry coming home without any home work and another book read and returned to the library. He complained constantly that school was boring and they never did anything interesting. It hadn't yet, but Nikki was worried it would get to the point where Harry no longer wanted to go to school everyday.

She had shared her opinion with Miss Emily who was steadfast in her belief Harry should be left in regular school. "Surely this is just a phase, dear." Miss Emily argued. "Perhaps the class is simply covering a topic that Harry already understands but on which the rest of the class needs a little more work." She calmly took another sip of her tea.

"But it's been like this for a couple weeks. I just don't think they're going fast enough for him. Just yesterday he was reading books on the solar system and taking notes. Actually taking notes. I mean, the kid's already teaching himself. I would just have to give him tests and keep him focused." Even she thought that book was beyond dry and nothing she would have a 9 year old read. And taking notes. Next thing she knew, he would be writing essays on what he read.

"Just give it a little more time dear. It's November now, so hold off until the Holidays. I just think Harold needs to socialize with all the children his own age. It's not good for him to be cooped up in this library with old folks like us all day." replied Miss Emily.

"We'll see. I just worry about him." said Nikki getting up to answer the phone which was ringing shrilly. "Good morning. Whinging Library. Nicole speaking. How may I help you? Really. The ROOF?! I'll be there right away." She put the phone down, her face ashen. "Harry's just been caught climbing up on the school roof.

"Well let's go dear." said Miss Emily, already gathering up her belongings.

* * *

"Where is he?" asked Nikki as she burst through the doors of the office, wild-eyed and pale. The secretary pointed to where Harry was waiting outside the Vice Principal's Office. "Harry!" she rushed over and kneeled in front of him, hugging him closely. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt? What were you thinking?"

"I'm alright. I was being chased by Piers and his gang because they were mad I got Dudley arrested and I tried to jump behind the dumpsters and the wind must have picked me up and blown me onto the roof." Harry replied all in one big rush of words. Vice Principal Jones had been talking about expelling him, and while school was boring, he didn't want to get kicked out.

"That's the same outrageous story he tried to tell me." came an oily voice from the doorway. "Mr. Polkiss and his friends would never attempt to harm another student."

"I'm sure" Nikki came back snarkily. "Just as Mr. Dursley would never commit any crimes."

If possible, Vice Principal Jones's face soured even more. Vernon had been a good friend of his and these little twits had turned the entire community against him. They had even managed to fool the police, but he knew that Vernon would never had done such things as had sent him to jail. A man so like himself couldn't ever do anything as criminal. Vernon Dursley's whole situation had been a vast injustice and he would do everything in his power to right such wrongs. "If I had my way, Potter would be expelled immediately, however, school code requires a disciplinary hearing before any student can be expelled so I can only place him on suspension until the hearing takes place."

Nikki could heard the disgust present in Mr. Jones's voice. She had noticed his dislike of Harry during their first meeting concerning Dudley's arrest. Even then, he had attempted to blame Harry for Dudley's crimes, even with countless statements from other children, teachers, parents, and random community members attesting to Dudley numerous misdeeds. She could tell the war had been lost before the first battle had even been fought. "While your at it, please draw up withdraw papers for Harry. If he has access to the school roof, and is so bored and unattended to attempt such a thing, Little Whinging is obviously no longer a safe and productive learning environment. Perhaps homeschooling is a better option than here."

Mr. Jones smiled deviously. "I'm afraid I'm unable to do such a thing unless you have a licensed teacher able to oversee his education. He will simply have to wait for the hearing."

"I do believe I am up to the task of educating youngsters." interjected Miss Emily. "Mrs. Emily Barron nee Grierson. I used to be quite the teacher back in my day." She would not allow young Harold to spend one more day in such an environment so counter-productive to learning as in a school run by this disturbed creature which stood before her. Some people were not meant to work with small children and this man should have been quarantined from all human beings. A person who would let personal beliefs affect his ability to teach was nothing more than an unusually large bully.

Mr. Jones was upset. A disciplinary hearing would have allowed him to share the Potter boy's grades clearly obtained by cheating. He also could have exposed his horrid behavior in class, which the teachers had been hesitant to report. He could have shown the world just have retched the boy really was. "Very well. I have his folder pulled right away." It was just as well. Both Harry's records and his teachers would have described him as a model student who scored well on tests but was bored in the day to day dealings of the classroom. Several of his teachers had been allowing him to quietly work ahead in the back of the room and had called to a meeting to discuss moving him up a grade come the new term. A disciplinary meeting could have exposed Mr. Jones for the vile little man he truly was.

* * *

To: Luna

From: Harry

Subject: News!

Hey Luna,

Guess what! I just got kicked out of school. Isn't that great! Jones was being a total jerk and trying to get me expelled, but Nikki pulled me out first so I could be home schooled. Miss Emily, you haven't met her yet, is going to teach me. I'll actually be able to learn new things instead of reading under the desk.

Hey. You should ask your dad if you can come join me. We could learn together. You could actually go to class with people who can do simple math instead of that idiot Ron, Ginny's brother you're always telling me about. What do you say?

Harry

* * *

Harry,

Mom and Dad said yes! Anything would be better than where I am now. Mrs. Weasley, that's Ginny's Mom, is still trying to teach us the multiplication tables. I swear, they don't even like to read! And Mummy has to take me to the library in London because Mrs. Weasley won't even go in town.

Mummy said she'll email Miss Nikki to work out all the details. This is great!

Luna

* * *

Back at her house, Miss Emily sat in attic dusting off old boxes of things left over from her teaching days. What had she been thinking volunteering to home school Harold. He was a 9 year old boy , sure to be a handful, and she was an old woman. It was too late to back out now. What is done, is done, and she would not back out of an agreement.

Coming across an old box of letter and mementos, she recalled this whole mess had started with Harry magically ending up on the roof. Magic. She hadn't thought about such a thing in a long time not since her cousin Augusta's wedding to that Longbottom fellow. She had exchanged a few letters with Augusta until the family had demanded she cease all contact with her. Such a strange way the letters had been delivered. By owl. But Augusta had told her she could post a letter to a certain address and it would be forwarded to her. Perhaps it was time to contact her once more to see what help she could provide young Harold.

My dear cousin Augusta Longbottom,

It has been such a long time since we have talked. I fear I allowed our family to keep us from speaking for far too long. I too have been shunned since I married my late husband Homer Barron. I am ashamed that I would allow another's opinion to dictate my actions. I hope time has been as kind to you as it has to me. I married my sweetheart, Homer, and settled down to teach at a nearby school.

I am writing to you because I have recently taken on another student. Harold, my student, has shown signs of magic, muck like you did as a child. Earlier today, he managed to appear on the school rooftop. I wish there was some advice or some books you could send, for which I would be happy to pay, to teach him to control his abilities and keep himself from further harm.

I have missed you, my cousin. I hope you will respond to this letter with news of your life since we parted so many years ago. Please give your family all my love and affection.

Your old friend,

Emily Barron nee Grierson

A/N

No, you no longer need a qualified teacher to homeschool in Britain, but this was an arguement used by many adminstrators during the late 90's.

Next chapter will expose a whole new dimension to this story which will either have readers hating me or very, very interested.

I love to research before I write anything, hence why chapters take a seemingly random amount of time to be written, but I hate the revision process, so if you spot any grammatical errors, or glaring plot holes, please point them out. And if you want something researched for a story, please don't hesitate to ask. Ditto if my horrible grammar bothers you. But I'm not making thoughts grammatically correct unless they belong to Miss Emily.

And if anyone would like to embellish/make a picture book out of "Harry Potter: The Boy-Who-Lived" please let me know, so I can link to it.

Alorkin, this story line isn't done yet and Dumbles may still make an appearance.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N

So far I'm keeping my promise; Chapter 7, one week after Chapter 8.

* * *

Chapter 7

Schooling

Meeting Harry that day on the beach had certainly been one of Luna's better experiences. She had had no worries about approaching him on the beach, because she had thought, surely someone as famous as the Boy-Who-Lived was hoarded by the masses of adoring witches and wizards everyday. She had thought it was strange he hadn't immediately written her off as just another adoring fan, but then she had learned he didn't even know he was famous. What a shock that had been! She hadn't even realized he hadn't known how his parents had died until he had rushed out of the room clutching the storybook. Thinking back now, she was sure there had been a better way to handle that, but Harry been upset at her for that. Sure, he had been upset, as he rightly should have been, but not at her. In fact, he was more than glad to include her in their plans for the day.

Speaking of, she wondered how she had ever gotten on before Mummy had bought her a computer. There were so many interesting things she could do. Just on the computer itself there were plenty of games that she could play all day. There were the classics, chess and checkers, but then there were more interesting games like pinball, where by hitting buttons, little things called flippers flicked the ball upwards, and Solitaire, a card game that she could play all day. When she tired of that, she could go on the Internet and find may more games, all for free. If she didn't want to play games, she could talk to Harry or to some of the other kids she had met online. Most of them were pretty cool, but there were some really creepy people out there. She tried to ignore them, but sometimes they were just too strange, so she reported them to what administration was responsible.

There were so many things to see. If she wanted to know something, she could just look it up. She loved the Internet. Her parents hated the phone bill.

* * *

Being an Unspeakable, Pythia was more comfortable in the Muggle world than most British witches and wizards. She had been forced through the Ministry's standard course on acting like a Muggle. After the class was over, she was then required to go through the Unspeakable's version of the same course. She had quickly learned the standard Ministry course was complete crap. Nothing from the course was right, from the way muggle clothing was cut, to the color combinations, to how they traveled. She was then forced to go out into Muggle London by her tutor, officially to practice her blending skills, but really to see just how much she needed to learn about the muggles before she would be allowed to do any solo work in the Muggle world.

But that was only the beginning. She then had to learn more about Muggle technology. Muggles had developed many great tools to work around their inability to use magic. But where the wizarding world had decided their current level was good enough, the Muggle world kept pushing the boundaries of what they knew and what they could do. The whole department had taken to using cell phones and e-mail to keep in touch simply because it was faster and cheaper than any magical alternatives. The Research Department was always tinkering with some new Muggle toy and she was glad the standard Unspeakable oaths prevented anyone from speaking about what happened in the Unspeakables, because Arthur Weasley from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department would have a field day with all the gadgets they had.

Due to all her previous training, Pythia was easily able to floo to Diagon Alley, and cross the barrier into Muggle London. From there she caught the Underground into the suburb of London known as Survey and the bus to Greater Whinging. It was a quick walk to the Whinging Library, where she arrived just in time for her meeting with Nikki.

Nikki was just putting on the kettle when Pythia walked through the door. "Mrs. Lovegood. What a surprise! I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow. I afraid that Miss Emily, that's the teacher, isn't here right now."

"Please, call me Pythia. I had some time off today and was hoping we could talk some more so I could get together some questions for the teacher, Miss Emily did you say, tomorrow. I was quite cross with Luna for agreeing before talking to me." By nature, Pythia had always been a cautious person, but her job had taught her the value of a little research before entering an unknown situation.

"Of course. Please, sit. Would you like some tea?" Nikki asked hearing the kettle whistle.

"Sure. Now, this Miss Emily, has she taught before?"

"That's really a question you need to ask her, but it's my understanding she was a grammar school teacher in her youth and a private tutor after she retired. From my understanding its quite a different experience teaching just one or two students at a time than a whole class. From the literature I've read, the teacher is there more to guide and push the student than to really teach the material."

"About that. What material will they be covering? Just the non-magical subjects?"

"Miss Emily will just be teaching the normal subjects, but Harry takes his magic classes online. Perhaps Luna could be enrolled in the same program?"

"He takes classes online?" asked Pythia. Stunned could not begin to describe how shocked she was feeling. As a rule, British Wizards don't use Muggle technology. They had traveled extensively, mostly for her job, so she knew technology was much more prevalent in other countries, but surely Harry wouldn't contact someone from outside Britain. It just wasn't done.

"Oh yes. The Online Learning Program. It's based in Australia, I think. It's such a good program. They even had a class for me where I could learn more about magic and how it will affect Harry. I've met so many other parents and discovered that no matter how well we understand the magic, we all had the same concerns for our children. It's nice to be able to talk with others who understand what you're going through." Nikki seemed to realize who rude her talk was when she had another parent of a magical child sitting right in front of her and move on. "And Harry tells me the classes are great. His first on was focused on the different magical cultures in the world. This term he has Basic Magical Theory, Basic Arithmicany, Fairy Tales, and the Ecosystem." Nikki was proud of the work the kid was doing. It was so different than anything she could remember learning, but he seemed to love it. As an English major, she really could understand how he could love numbers, but they enthralled him. He claimed they were so useful because he could finally describe what the magic was doing and immediately have other magic users understand exactly what he was talking about.

Pythia was torn. She really didn't want Luna to be educated outside of Britain, but online classes really didn't count, now did they? Plus, Basic Arithmancy? If that was what it sounded like, where kids were taught how to use math to control their magic, it would be a really good skill for Luna to learn. Usually kids weren't allowed to start that until their third year at Hogwarts. "How are Fairy Tales and the Ecosystem magic related?"

Nikki chewed her lip, a bad habit of hers she had always been trying to break. "You'd really want to have Harry explain it to you, but from what I understand Fairy Tales is about exploring the real magic that appears in different fairy tales from around the world, how it differs from what was written down, and how those differences came to be. The Ecosystem focuses on how different magical creatures that are kept hidden from the normal world affect the ecosystem and how that is interpreted by Non-Magically Aware scientists. Harry says there are a whole bunch of ways that magical creatures use their inherent magic to hide, such as reflecting only ultra-violet light, so to be invisible to the naked eye. He says that's a really hot topic right now, because scientists are just collecting too much data to stay ignorant for too much longer."

"That actually sound really interesting. I assume it's also helping him to learn the different plants for Herbology and Potions?" That sounded like a very useful way to learn all the different plants. Rote memorization like she had learned them really hadn't worked and was deathly boring.

"I'm afraid I don't know enough about it to be sure." Nikki had never heard of Potions or Herbology. She could guess from their names what they were about, but why would all magical children need to know about plants? "Any other questions?"

"How shall Luna get here and back home?" She had some thoughts of having somewhere hooked up to the Floo system, but first to see if Nikki had any thoughts on the matter.

"I suppose she could take the bus in from London?" Nikki offered hesitantly.

"What if we had your house hooked up to the Floo system and she could just pop over every morning?"

"I'm sorry. What exactly is the Floo system?"

"It's a network for travel, much like the bus system, only the bus stops are fireplaces inside individual's homes and public places and they each connect directly to the destination. If you would allow it, I would handle the setup and registration." This way she could be sure Luna was safe and Harry would have greater access to the wizarding world.

"It's secure?" Nikki didn't want just anyone to be able to enter her home. "Then that sounds perfect. How soon can it be done so Luna can start?"

"I'll have it hooked up Saturday if you'll be home?"

"I actually have off tomorrow if you can do it then." The sooner the Floo thingie was hooked up, the sooner Luna could join Harry for class. He had been bugging her about when Luna would come for the past week.

"That would be great! Luna's been pestering me ever since Harry emailed her. She can't wait to start school with him."

"I'll warn Miss Emily the two of them are going to be a handful. So she'll start on Thursday then?"

"That sounds good. I'll meet you here tomorrow then?"

* * *

"Ms. Smith. This is Dyedod, from the expense approval committee at Gringotts. We noticed a large number of purchases in the last few days and were hoping we could meet at the same bank as last time to discuss them Friday at 9. Please contact me at ."

That was strange. Nikki couldn't think of any recent purchases that were questionable. Sure, she had started buying school supplies but she had warned them during their last meeting that Harry might be starting Homeschool. From what she could remember she had bought several basic supplies like paper, pencils, and maybe some crayons. She had also bought some lesson plans and workbooks, but that was to be expected.

Well, she'd just have to gather up all her receipts and ...oh my! She needed to work something out where Miss Emily would get paid. How had she completely forgotten about that? She loved the old girl, but no matter how much she knew Miss Emily liked to help, she couldn't allow her to take care of a 9 year old boy and a 10 year old girl for 8 hours a day without pay.

Nothing had changed about the bank. Someone had either noticed what a security risk the large windows were or had been shocked by their heating bills, because now the windows had security film covering them, preventing people outside from seeing much that was going on inside. This time, Mr. Stewart met her as she was walking across the Lobby. He led her back to the same conference room, only this time there were five of those oddly off people sitting across the table. The one in the middle stood to greet her. "Ms. Smith. My name is Dyedod. I left you a message on your answering machine. Please sit." he said gesturing to the chair in front of her. "We have some questions about recent purchases made for Mr. Potter's education. As you may or may not be aware, this committee was formed after some questionable expenses relating to education appeared the first time. Therefore, we are vigilant to guard against such things."

Questionable purchases were an understatement. When Mr. Potter was three, some unnamed person who may or may not have been Albus Dumbledore had decided to begin withdrawing money for Mr. Potter's education at some Muggle private school. He also setup a monthly stipend for the Dursleys to cover Mr. Potter's cost of living. Further, he paid the Weasleys money allegedly for caring for Mr. Potter, especially his mental health.

The Goblins had thought this was most strange. Many goblins had opted to have their children educated in the Muggle world under glamors and three year old children did not attend school unlike wizarding children who had tutors starting at about that age. Deciding to investigate, the Goblins sent out agents to discover how Mr. Potter spent his days.

They found Mr. Potter spent most of his time not at the Dursleys house but either outside or visiting neighbors. They did find he officially lived with the Dursleys, even though he often spent the night at other's house. He even ate a large number of his meals elsewhere. The investigators followed Mr. Potter for close to two months. During that time, the Dursleys spent no money solely on Mr. Potter, preferring to give him castoffs for clothing and only unwanted toys. Also Mr. Potter started at the free Nursery School down the street, which also fed him lunch. Not once, did Mr. Potter visit the Weasleys nor did the Weasleys visit Mr. Potter. Just to be sure, the Goblins asked their new employee, William Weasley if his family had ever had any contact with Mr. Potter. He had responded in the negative.

The Goblins were unable to prove Mr. Dumbledore had stolen the money, for he could simply claim he had taken it out to care for Mr. Potter and the Wizarding World would believe him no matter what evidence Gringotts could provide to the negative. They're hands were tied when it came to recovering the money, but they could surely protect what was left, which was quite substantial. They couldn't prevent Mr. Dumbledore from withdrawing money from the accounts, but they could force anyone who wanted to withdraw the money to prove that the money was going to better Mr. Potter's quality of life. That would require paperwork, receipts, and visits by individuals from Gringotts to Mr. Potter, all of which would be entirely too much work for Mr. Dumbledore to fake. Plus, the Goblins could clearly see Mr. Dumbledore wanted to keep Mr. Potter ignorant of the Wizarding World and his great wealth and so, wouldn't risk a meeting between Gringotts and Mr. Potter.

"That's more than fair. I looked over the receipts and there have been quite a large number of purchases recently. I didn't realize just how many until last night. I brought the receipts with me." She pulled a manila folder out of the bag she had brought with her and passed it across the table. "Here are the originals. I kept copies for my own records. I'm sorry I didn't bring more copies. I wasn't sure how many people were on the committee." Pulling out her own folder, she opened it and prepared to explain every purchase she had made in the past few weeks. "Most of these are for supplies, such as paper and pencils. Of course, we bought some prepared lesson plans, and some homeschooling guides to reacquaint both their teacher and me with what children are learning now days. Also there were workbooks and a couple of textbooks, mostly for Maths and Cultural Studies. The Library where classes are being held already has plenty of books on the Sciences and History, and all the classics for Language Arts."

"This is exactly what we were looking for, Ms. Smith." Dyedod glanced at the other Goblins. "Allow us look over these receipts and we'll get back to you. The only other thing is a visit so we can see in person just how homeschooling is working out."

"Please" said Nikki. "Stop by any time. The kids have class Monday through Friday from 7 until 5, with a break for lunch about noon. Some days they take field trips, but all the materials will still be there. It's the Whinging Library, in Greater Whinging, just outside of London."

* * *

Cousin Emily,

Indeed, it as been such a long time. We have both missed so much of each other's lives. My dear old Albert has been gone for nearly fifteen years now. Our son, Frank, has married a nice young lady, Alice, and they had a beautiful boy, Neville. Unfortunately, circumstances have left me to raise Neville alone.

I have enclosed a few books; A Muggleborn's Guide to Wizarding Britain, Magical Theory, and Hogwarts: A History. The first is highly recommended for all Muggleborns. Magical Theory is a common primer and reference book for magical children. The last, Hogwarts: A History explains much about the school which Harold will likely attend when he turns eleven.

I've had Neville tutored until now. Unfortunately, that has left him mostly isolated. I was wondering if you would be adverse to Neville joining your young Harold in his homeschooling. I feel Neville needs more chances to socialize and it would give Harold a chance to meet someone from the wizarding world.

Augusta Longbottom

This was guaranteed to be interesting. Now she had gone from one student to two students to three students. She had thought she was done teaching when she had retired twenty years ago but now she seemed to be collecting students. Two boys, Harold and Neville, and a girl, Luna. If she could handle thirty students at once, surely she could handle just three.

* * *

Luna was enjoying having school with Harry. Her Mum had taught her how to multiply and divide, but Harry had already done exponents and was starting on something call Geometric Sequences. Mrs. Weasley had been trying to teach them how to write good paragraphs, but she kept having to repeat herself for Ronald, so she never got very far, but Luna loved to read so she already knew how to support an argument from all the different essays she had read.

That was another thing she loved about her new school. It was a Library. There were literally thousands of books just waiting to be read, and Miss Emily even encouraged her to read whenever her work for the day was done. Muggles had such interesting stories. There just wasn't anything as good as Muggle fiction in the wizarding world. There were stories with strange types of magic, like Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Tolkin's The Lord of the Rings series. Then there were the stories packed full of mystery and adventure like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Then there were stories with great characters like Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and Judith Benet Richardson's First Came the Owl. In the Wizarding World, there were mostly only non-fiction, a few children's stories and really bad magazines. She was also discovering that the Muggles had many, many different newspapers. She was used to there being just the Daily Prophet. Here there were local papers, national papers, even global papers and papers from other countries all delivered daily. While they sometimes carried the same storied, they all had an unique viewpoint on current events. Daddy had been quite upset since he had been let go from his previous job, and he always said the Daily Prophet never told the truth, maybe he would want to start up his own newspaper. She'd just have to mention it when she went home.

And she had the chance to learn magic, real magic, before she went to Hogwarts. Sure, they really could practice anything they learned until they started at Hogwarts, but she was able to at least learn the theory behind it now. That was more than Ginny and Ron were learning. They only got to watch their Mom show them how to hold a wand and wave it in the correct way. She got to learn what the magic actually did. She was only signed up for a Basic Magical Theory class while Harry had three other classes as well. It explained things like where the energy for magic came from, how it was manipulated by different things, and what happened to it afterwards. It explained some things like why her Mum still had to buy groceries instead of just conjuring them from thin air.

Just then an older lady with a large elaborate hat strolled through the door, dragging a boy, about her age behind her. "Come along, Neville. Come meet your new classmates."

The boy was a little on the chubby side, with brown hair. In just the few steps he had taken, he had already tripped over his own feet. He tried to hide behind the lady, which was difficult considering she was talking to Miss Emily and shooing him away towards Luna and Harry.

"Hello, I'm Harry." said Harry trying to be nice. The poor kid looked like no one had ever talked to him without being forced to before.

Luna nudged him with her elbow. "We've talked about this, Harry. Do it again, properly."

Harry sighed. He really didn't understand Luna preoccupation with him introducing himself in this certain way. "My name is Harry Potter. This is my friend, Luna Lovegood. And you are?" he said formally. Breaking mold, he turned to Luna and stuck out his tongue. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic." she responded sarcastically.

"Ooh, Big word. Did it hurt?"

"My name is Neville...Longbottom." Neville interrupted in an attempt to break up what seemed to him a very unfriendly fight. But, when they turned their attention from one another to him, he lost his courage and his stutter once more came back with a vengeance.

"So you're going to be learning with me and this fool here?" asked Harry pointing his thumb at Luna.

"Yes." Neville looked back and forth between Luna and Harry, before gathering his courage. "You re..really shouldn't call her names. It's not nice."

"It's all in good fun, Neville. We're friends. It's just our way of showing affection." said Luna, defending Harry. It was like this kid had never had any friends before... She turned to look at Harry, and obviously he was thinking the same thing she was. "Just like we're going to tease you now that you're our friend."

* * *

It was difficult going to school with only two very smart people. Miss Emily had repeatedly told Neville that he was smart, but just didn't have the same learning that Harry and Luna did. It seems his tutors had never pushed him for fear of upsetting his grandmother. The only thing he was really good at was Latin, because his grandmother had taught him hat herself. He could write and read fine, but no one had ever taught him how to support an argument or provide little details when describing something. The last one he did automatically when writing about plants, so Miss Emily was having him compare an essay he had written on plants to one he had written about a book. She wanted him to point out all the areas where the first one was superior to the second one and correct them. Now that he understood what she was trying to show him, it was easy, but slow work.

He also had a chance to learn more about magic then just Latin. He was allowed to take the Ecosystem course Harry had been in as his first class because he had shown an definite interest in plants. Even though the class was about three weeks along when he joined it, he was easily able to catch up. It was very interesting stuff they were studying. He had never really thought about the world beyond his garden, but now he was learning how his garden affected the creatures that lived nearby. He had really surprised his professor by knowing all the Latin names for the plants and animals they were learning about.

Thus when the others decided to break for lunch, Neville was still working. Nikki had stepped out earlier for a dentist's appointment and had asked Miss Emily to keep an eye on things while she was out. Unfortunately, she was running a bit late, and hadn't made it back in time for lunch. "I'm sorry dears, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until Nicole to get back for lunch. I can't leave the Library unattended."

Impulsively, Neville spoke out. "You guys go ahead. I'm almost done with this essay and I can watch the Library until Nikki gets back." What had he gotten himself into. Alright. Deep breaths. Just like that meditation exercise Harry had shown them. He could handle this. He knew where the different parts of the Library were. He knew how to find a certain book. He even understood the mess that was the online book catalogue. And in a worse case scenario, he knew how to make tea and ask someone to wait until Nikki came back.

"Are you sure dear?" asked Miss Emily. From what she had learned from Augusta, the child had never been left alone unless it was in the garden. Maybe this would be good for him.

Harry and Luna were sure. They were already almost out the door. "We'll bring you back something." Luna said while pulling Harry the rest of the way out of the Library.

"And an orange soda." yelled Harry from outside.

"Go ahead. I'll be fine. No body ever comes in at lunch time." said Neville, thereby sealing his fate to have tons of people come in today.

Miss Emily grabbed her purse and hurried out to follow the children. She yelled at them to slow down, but they could hear her because the noon bus was just stopping outside of the library.

From the bus, twenty-five people exited at a stop where normally no one got off. It was a group of older people from the nearby senior center. They were starting a new program where they visited the Library every week so to have something to do. The idea was to have each senior have a book to read to occupy their time. By luck or happenstance, they had chosen now to visit the Library.

Neville had just finished his book and was taking the time to start a cup of tea when he heard the doors open. Hoping for single person looking for directions, he knew he would be stuck helping a large group of people. Steeling himself and pasting a large smile on his face, he exited the office to see a large group of elderly people already making a line at the desk. They had already seen him. There was no way to back out slowly now.

"Good morning. How may I help you?" with those few words, Neville had just reached the total amount of words he had ever said to a grown-up not related to him.

"Yes sonny. I'm looking for books on knitting. Could you show me where there are?" The old lady was clearly a knitter.

Neville could see the needles and yarn stick out of her bag from here. Looking at the line behind her, Neville just knew every single person would ask him to show them to the area with books that covered their favorite topic. "Why don't I take everyone on a tour of the Library so you can find any book you'd like the next time you come in."

Neville had unknowingly responded in the perfect way. He had appealed to their sense of independence, something they hadn't had much of since they had been getting older. He could take care of most of their questions just by walking through the shelves and pointing out the different subjects.

Harry and Luna were still ahead of Miss Emily on the way back to the Library. "Neville!" Harry called out as he entered. "We brought you back . . ." but got no farther because three older people waiting patiently at the front desk turned around and shushed him. Harry turned to Luna and whispered very, very quietly, "What has Neville gotten himself into?"

Not knowing what to say and still a little overwhelmed by the most people she had ever seen in the Library at one time, she just shrugged and whispered back, "I guess we better go help him."

"Good morning, Ma'am. How may I help you?" Harry asked from behind the desk.

"Can you show me how to work that computer over there? I've always wanted to know how they work." The older lady was just now starting to go gray, but even Harry could tell she had seen many years.

"Right this way, Ma'am. What would you like to do on the computer?

"Well my grandchildren keep telling me to set up an email account so they can send me pictures and letters over the Interweb. Can you show me how to do that?"

"Yes ma'am. If you have their email address, we can even send them a letter." replied Harry, completely ignoring the Interweb comment. Sometimes it was more about being able to do than to know how something worked.

Back at the counter, Luna was explaining to the older gentleman waiting there that no, the Library did not offer painting classes, but there was a Art League right across the street and she was sure they did.

Just then Nikki walked in to see a large amount of elderly people patiently listening to Neville give a tour of the Library, Harry helping a lady use the computer, and Luna giving directions to the Art League down the street. She walked up to stand next to Miss Emily. "They're all grown up, aren't they?"

"I do believe they are." responded Miss Emily. Both women just stood there and proudly watched the three they thought of as their children prove just how independent they were.

* * *

The past school year had been very interesting for Miss Emily. She had three very bright pupils who were more than willing to learn what ever she had to teach them. Already she could see each was finding a subject they really enjoyed, mostly because she encouraged them to learn about the things that interested them, something that never would have happened in their old learning environments.

Little Harold, who had started this whole experience, was caught up by his magic classes. It was something new, something he could have never learned before. Ever since he had discovered maths was the way people communicated and theoretically manipulated magic, he had loved maths. He had immediately signed up for a Geometry class after he finish his first Arithmancy class.

Luna, such a strange girl she had been at the beginning, had started to focus more on the world around her. Where she had held herself aloof before, she now participated in the day to day dealings of the world. She enjoyed reading. Often Miss Emily had to gently remind her to put the book down and finish her work. After several conversations on why the characters in the books reacted like they did, Miss Emily had pointed Luna towards the different characterization books available in the writing section of the Library. From there, Luna had decided to study psychology to see if real people's actions could be predicted like the characters in books. She was having quite a time of it, going around, intently studying people to see if she could devise their motivations just by looking at them.

Neville, the poor dear, had been quite behind when he first started. Add to that his low self-esteem and she had struggled to bring him up to speed with the other two. It had been difficult, but once she had discovered Neville was a genius when it came to plants, she was able to build his self-esteem and his basic reading and writing skills, and he made amazing progress to catch up with the others. He had branched out from Botany to the other sciences like Biology and Chemistry. He hadn't realized it, but he had learn a great deal about various insects and grazers while gardening. He was fascinated by learning how the plants he dealt with every day actually worked. He had known that the insects ate his plants and he had put fertilizer on his plants, but he hadn't realized that the fertilizer could build up as the energy traveled up the food pyramid and injure larger predators. He was conducting his own investigation to see if anyone had studied this in the Wizarding World, but it looked like no one had. He had recently contacted some Herbology and Potions Masters under a pseudonym to see if they had studied the issue.

Miss Emily had quite the time convincing the children they should take a summer break and just relax for three weeks. She wasn't sure she would have convinced them if Augusta hadn't decided to take Neville on a trip to visit some distant family. Immediately, Harry and Luna had refused to have class without Neville. Luna was spending the time at home with her mother and Harry was splitting his time between home and the Library. She was sure they were both still working on some secret project that they thought she didn't know about because they had both taken home a large stack of books from the Library. She couldn't really get mad at them because after all, their worst sin was a desire to learn.

She however, would be spending the time recuperating from the stress of keeping three children in line. Her time would be split between long naps and some good books that she hadn't had the chance to finish since this whole ordeal had started. Oh, who did she think she was kidding? Her time would be spent reading up on the latest advances in teaching and child-rearing. She was no better than the children when it came to working over vacation.

* * *

Harry was spending the day at his and Nikki's flat exploring how the Geometry of a spell affected how the energy was used. He was in the middle of an Instant Message conversation with his professor from last term when Luna's head exploded through the Floo in a panic.

"Harry! Help! Mum. She's hurt."

"Luna. Calm down. I'm coming through." He picked up the Floo powdered, threw it in, and stepped through immediately after the flames turned green.

On the other side, Luna was standing over her Mum who was bleeding from her stomach and passed out on the floor. "She was researching something for her job when it exploded and caught her in the stomach and knocked her backwards. What do I do?"

Luckily, Harry's Tai Chi class had required him to take a First Aid class as part of his lessons. He remembered the first step was to remain calm. He was to apply pressure to the wound and send for help. He took off his shirt and pressed it over the wound. Turning to Luna, he said calmly, hoping to calm her down as well, "Floo the hospital."

Luna wondered why she hadn't thought of that. Turning back to the Floo, she Flooed to St. Mungo's and returned a moment later with two Healers. The Healers immediately took over the scene, picking up Harry's shirt to examine the wound. One Healer reapplied pressure to the wound, this time using a sterilized pad pulled out of the kit he was carrying. The other Healer examine the workbench where the explosion had taken place. She gathered up the remnants of what had exploded so they could be checked later for interactions with the Potions the patient would need to heal. The female Healer then conjured a stretcher and they gentle placed Mrs. Lovegood upon it. The male Healer Portkeyed back to St. Mungo's while the female Healer stayed behind to talk to the children.

"Every thing's going to be alright children. Can you tell me what happened here?" she asked gently. Staying calm and reassuring had been proven to help others stay calm in an emergency.

Harry was the first to answer. "I was at home when Luna came through the Floo and told me her Mum was hurt. I came through and saw her bleeding from her stomach so I applied pressure to the wound and told Luna to get some help."

The Healer then turned to Luna to find out what had caused the accident. "Luna?" she asked taking her name from the information Harry had provided. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Luna was still out of it and responded mechanically, "I was in the other room and I heard a big bang. When I came out here, Mummy was lying on the ground and bleeding, so I called Harry. Will she be okay?" she asked, turning her wide eyes on the Healer.

"She'll be just fine." The Healer said honestly. "You guys did exactly the right thing by calling for help. We got here in time to save her life. You kids are heroes." Neither Harry nor Luna really heard the praise. They were too worried about Luna's Mum to think about anything else. "Is there anyone you can call?"

Harry turned to Luna. "Luna, you should call you dad, while I go home and call Nikki."

The four of them sat in St. Mungo's waiting room, worrying themselves to death while waiting to hear any news about Pythia. Luna was staring blankly into space while Harry kept trying to reassure her that everything would be alright and bring her back to reality. Nothing he was saying seemed to be getting through to her until the Healer walked in. "Mr. Lovegood?" he asked approaching Xenophilius. All of them stood up hoping to hear any news. "Your wife is doing fine. We've managed to close the wound and it's just a matter of time until she wakes up. Would you like to see her?"

This was all that was needed to return Luna to the land of the living. "She's alright." she whispered to Harry. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there."

Harry didn't know what to say so he just hugged her. "We'll take some First Aid and Healing classes together so this never happens again."

* * *

Neville was shocked to hear Luna's Mum had gotten hurt while he was away and very glad to hear she was doing okay. He was upset that no one had called him, but Harry argued that they hadn't known how to get a hold of him. They included Neville in the First Aid class they were taking at the local Muggle hospital and all was forgiven.

This year continued much like the one before. Neville heard back from the various Master he had contacted. The Herbology Masters had pretty much ignored his concerns for they did nothing but grow the plants. The Potion Masters informed him they were already aware that certain ingredients worked better than others and thanked him for his input. One Potion Master in particular, a Severus Snape, had asked for a copy of his research and any suggestions he might have for correcting the problem. Neville and him had Owled back and forth discussing both the current literature, the majority of which was Muggle, solutions to the contamination problem, and how this process could be manipulated to produce more potent ingredients. Neville had mentioned that the Muggles had ways to breed plants to have more favorable traits. He also explained the the Muggles liked to isolate only the ingredients that were useful so they didn't have to deal with as many reactions and impurities. This had produced ideas on both sides of the conversation which was looking like it would continue on indefinitely.

Neville was still enjoying his Magic classes, and had liked the Ecology class so much he had signed up for a Biology class this time. He had already studied the subject some, especially where it concerned plants, but he wanted to know even more. Besides, he needed an easy class to balance out his Maths and History classes. He considered both boring.

Harry had started another Maths class, this time focusing mostly on the concepts he would need to know to start Algebra. He was still interested in Geometry and how it could affect magic, so his professor had suggested he begin an art class to learn more about dimensions and spatial relationships between objects. He was also taking another Culture class, this time just focusing on the purely Magical Beings, like the Goblins, and the Merpeople, and the Vampires. He learned about their interactions with Humans, Magical and Non-Magical alike.

Luna had thrown herself into her classwork after her Mum had gotten hurt. She enjoyed the History class that Neville so hated. She saw it as just another way to understand why people did what they did. On Harry's advice, she had taken the Magical Cultures class he had started with and loved it. She especially liked the part where the they explored the reasons why each culture was different. She was also forced to take Arithmancy as her Maths and really didn't understand Harry's fascination with it. It was just numbers.

She had contacted her favorite Muggle authors and asked if they had any advice for a young writer to better her characters. They had responded with various advice ranging from "Always write" to "Study the people around you". One had even sent her a list of questions designed to help flesh out her characters. Instead of using the questions to create a believable character, she used them to create a history on all the people she knew to see how their past affected their actions.

None of them were quite prepared when Neville and Harry received their Hogwarts letters.

* * *

A/N

I've never understood this, but it seems like every library I've been to has at the least a breakfast nook with a sink, microwave, and coffee maker. 3 of the libraries I've been to have had full-blown kitchens with stoves. I just don't understand it. I love it, don't get me wrong. Nothing's better than a good book, an old blanket and a warm drink (be it coffee, tea, or hot chocolate), but I just can't figure it out. The dishwasher makes sense in the Chem department, but not the gas stove in the Library.

I really want to hate myself because I feel like I perpetuating that myth that girls suck at math, but I'm not. As I girl, I hate this one, because while math isn't something I want to pursue as a career, its really, really easy for me. I go with the stereotype because it works into a plot line way, way, way down the road. Big cookie to anyone who can guess what it is!

I lied. Really, I swear I was going to include the Hogwarts letter in this chapter but then I started writing and had filled 12 pages with story before I ran out of things to talk about. Plus with everything that happened this chapter, I wanted to give the letter and Diagon alley it's own chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N

Please don't hurt me!

I've got 4 stories, 3 essays, a book, and a moviescript running around in my head and _this_ is the one I get stuck on. I know it's short, but the next chapter, I swear will be out in two weeks. Flame me if it's not.

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Chapter 9

Letters

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Hogwarts was first founded because four witches and wizards decided the apprentice system had failed. They felt too many students didn't learn to their full potential under just one master. Students learned the basics of magic and only covered advanced material in the particular topics their master focused in, without regards to their individual aptitudes. Individually, each of the founders had decided that it made much more sense to teach a group of students the basics together and then the student could _decide_ which subject they _wanted_ to study. So they created a building where students could be housed and learn in large numbers, and they named it Hogwarts.

The initial students were easy to find. The founders simply recruited (read stole) the current apprentices from their old masters and their large, extended families. At that time, Hogwarts was a slacker's dream; there were no rules, no grades, and not even much homework, because most of the students didn't know how to read. When the parents were contacted - _if_ the parents were contacted - it was by informal meeting in the student's home by one of the founders. It made no sense to send an official letter because there would be no one on the other end would be able to read it.

Not until the 15th century, after Hogwarts had created a library and literacy become much more widespread, did they begin sending the official acceptance letters. By then, the tradition of passing information about Hogwarts down through the family had been well established. To this extent, the student's acceptance letter was simply a formality, and the parent's letter only included a few updates on how things had changed and current tuition prices.

About this time the Deputy Headmaster was assigned to write and address the multitude of letters sent out every year - a daunting task. The Deputy Headmaster had to divine the names and addresses of suitable students and compose the required letter. As the numbers swelled, the Deputy Headmaster needed to spend more and more time dealing with the letters. As the number of letters needing to be written soared over 1000, the Deputy Headmaster decided there must be a more efficient way of completing this task and thus, the Hogwarts Quill was born.

The Hogwarts Quill is actually composed of an ordinary quill attached to a self-updating map connected to the Book of Names. The Book of Names is where all humans with magical abilities that live within Great Britain are recorded. At the same time each summer the spell is programmed to begin sending letters out to children based on age. The book sends the essence of the child to the map, which pinpoints that essence through scrying, which sends it to the Quill which addresses the pre-written letter. This process worked extremely well until 1563.

Before the Black Death swept through England, names were reported to Hogwarts as the child was born to magical parents or discovered in the Muggle world and fostered to a magical family for their own safety. After this great tragedy, many children were left parentless and homeless. Often they had not been recorded in the Book of Names. The current Deputy Headmaster decided this was unacceptable and set about creating a spell to identify and record the names in the book as they did their first bit of magic.

Even that first year, it was obvious their system required many changes. Shocking numbers of Muggles were appearing on their lists, many more than expected. Hogwarts wasn't prepared to deal with such a large influx of students. Together with the Headmaster, the Deputy Headmaster devised a system to decide who received invitations to Hogwarts and who would not learn about magic. Worried about recent events, they felt that the safest students for both Hogwarts and the students themselves would be those who did not have strong preconceived notions about magic. They had seen how religion and magic tended to be a volatile mix, so they included only those Muggleborns who did not regularly attend church.

Of course, they recognized that the normal process where parents explained about Hogwarts to their children would not work for Muggleborns, so they crafted a second letter explaining more information about Hogwarts. To determine who received the Muggleborn letter and who received the normal letter, children who were registered by their parents at birth received the normal letter and everyone else got the other letter. This system worked well, even for those orphaned magical children because they were always adopted into magically aware families.

As Harry Potter would have, if not for the scheming of Albus Dumbledore and the petty jealousy of Petunia Dursley.

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Late in the afternoon on Friday, the Hogwarts owls got their main exercise for the year when they were sent out with the large batch of letters for the year. Each immediately homed in on the essence of the recipient of the letter they were carrying. Half of the letters were destined for students, the other half for adults.

The owl carrying the letter addressed to Harry Potter flew off immediately to where his essence was concentrated. The owl carrying the letter intended for Harry Potter's guardian could feel two essences as was normal and headed towards the closer one. The owl entered the building containing the essence through the window and hovered above the person the owl was looking for. Spotting the person she was looking for lying in a bed, she flapped her wings trying to wake her up so the lady could relieve her of her burden. Even knocking a lamp over, making it break didn't wake her up as it did most humans who were asleep. Giving up, the owl swooped back out the window just as the door opened.

"I want to do this alone, Gran" a young voice floated in.

The owl winged her way through the night sky. She headed off towards the second essence she could feel. As she came closer and closer to her destination, it became colder and she began to dread going any farther. The recipient of her letter was on a tiny island. She made her way towards a tiny cell, but as she was passing a cell door, the bony hand reached out and grabbed her.

Bellatrix Lestrange ate well that night.

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As a rule, life altering events always occurred on Tuesday. On this particular Tuesday morning, Neville exited the Floo at Harry's flat, waving his Hogwarts letter excitedly in the air. His letter pleased his Gran to no end. Even though he excelled at the magic classes he had taken online for the past year, Neville's Gran feared that he didn't have enough magical ability to attend Hogwarts.

During the trip to the Library both Harry and Luna pored over the letter. "Do you think I'll get mine soon?" asked Harry, uneasy. "I'm still waiting for someone from the IMO to come talk to me about the wish magic I performed three years ago!"

Luna and Neville shared a glance. Harry held such strange ideas about how the Ministry of Magic worked. Everyone knew that the Misuse of Magic office just sent your parents a letter and it was to their discretion how to punish you. Even then, they didn't keep track of accidental magic, only that done with a wand. The Ministry would have to hire more workers than MafaldaHopkirk to send letters out for all the incidents of accidental magic by children. They only bothered tracking wand magic because it had been proven to be dangerous to small children's magic. The Ministry of Magic only sent out agents if something was observed by a large group of Muggles.

"I'm sure you will. Do you think Mum will let me go a year early? I don't want to be left here without you guys." asked Luna.

"I don't know. Would you even be allowed to go?" Neville always worried about what authority figures would think. It was a left-over from living with only his Gran for 9 years of his life.

"Isn't it bad for pipsqueaks like you to use magic before you're 11?" asked Harry. Neville still refused to tease anyone else, so Harry took it upon himself to get in Luna's daily quota of being teased. Harry, took great pride in the fact, that while he may not be taller than Neville, he _was _a couple inches taller than Luna.

"No wonder you're so screwed up. You used magic way too early." Luna could give just as good as she got. Usually they joked just in good fun, but today the notion that Harry and Neville may be leaving her behind upset her.

Even Harry and Neville, boys such that they were, could recognize that Luna's heart really wasn't in the banter. Afraid, she thought they would forget all about her at Hogwarts. Harry gave her a hug, unusual for him because he didn't normally show affection. "It'll be alright, Luna. We'll ask your Mum, and if she says no, we'll just find a way to smuggle you onboard the train. And if that doesn't work, we'll send you lots of emails."

"Owls. Lots and lots of owls." Neville broke in. "Computers won't work at Hogwarts."

"Your's won't. Ours will. We bought ours while in Spain so they would be insulated against magic. Harry said smugly as he crossed to said computer and opened up Netscape. "I'm going to write a post asking if anyone else is going to Hogwarts. We could make some new friends before we even go shopping for our school supplies."

"When are you guys getting your supplies?" asked Luna sniffling. If she couldn't go, she would at least have to go shopping with them. Boys were so useless when it came to shopping. Plus, she could probably get another book out of her mum.

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* * *

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In the back room of the Library, Pythia, Augusta, and Nikki sat around the table drinking tea and talking about their respective children's departure to Hogwarts.

Augusta was finding it hard to let go. Neville was the last connection she had to her son, Frank, and she wanted to hold on to that as tightly as she could. she told the other women how she had contacted Professor McGonagall to inquire about the students' safety and welfare. She had received the direct Floo contact to the Deputy Headmistress's office.

"I'm still not sure about this Hogwarts school. Harry's been doing so well homeschooling with Miss Emily. What will going away to a boarding school do to him?" Nikki was worried. Over the past two years, Pythia and Augusta had explained much about Hogwarts, but she was still uncertain. Neither Harry's nor her letter had arrived yet, even though Neville's had.

"I'm sure his letter just got delayed somewhere. Harry clearly has the magical ability to be accepted into Hogwarts." Pythia calmed her. "Its Luna I'm worried about. I contacted Profesor McGonagall and she's agreed to test Luna for early entrance. I'm not sure how she'd handle having to go back to her former schooling arrangements without the boys."

"She'll do just fine. She's intelligent and mature for her age." Augusta reassured her. "She's been doing the same work as the boys for the past couple of years. I'm just glad Neville will finally be going to a real school."

"Yes. Hogwarts is so much better than those classes they've been taking online." agreed Pythia, automatically.

Nikki was confused. Just last week Pythia had mentioned how Luna was learning things she had never been introduced to at Hogwarts. "I though you _liked _the classes Luna was in?"

"Of course I do. They're very advanced. Luna has learned so much from them." Pythia responded immediately. "It's just Hogwarts is so much better."

"Oh yes. Hogwarts is the finest school in Britain." agreed Augusta.

"What other schools are there?" asked Nikki, curious. The other two had always labeled Hogwarts as the best school in Britain, but had never mentioned any other schools. Ever.

"Other schools?" parroted Augusta. "There really aren't any other schools in Britain. A few bush schools and private tutors are the only other options besides Hogwarts."

"What about outside of the UK?"

"Outside of the UK?" laughed Pythia. "No one goes outside of the UK. It's just not done."

"Why not?" questioned Nikki. "I'm originally from America, but I went to boarding school in Switzerland and college here in Britain. France is just a train ride away by the Chunnel. Pythia, we _met_ you in _Spain."_

"That's strange." Pythia frowned. She had been outside the country numerous times on direct orders, but never just for a vacation. The places she had visited were clean and friendly, and the few magical users she had happened upon had been nice. "The only one's I've heard of are Durmstrang and Beuaxbatons. Those are both below Hogwarts. I don't think I know anyone who went to either one." she heard herself say automatically. There was something strange going on. Why couldn't she bring herself to say anything good about places outside of the country? She would have to investigate.

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* * *

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"Mum." Luna was quite serious and had approached her mum instead of the other way around. "Harry and Neville are going to Hogwarts."

Pythia could already see where this conversation was going. "I know dear."

"I'm going to be left here alone." Her voice rose in pitch about half an octave. This had really been worrying her for the past few days. Her Mum didn't seem to be all that worried about the situation.

"I know dear." Pythia continued to drink her tea and read over the notes she had from the most recent research. She wondered how long Luna would dance around the subject before asking her directly if she could go to Hogwarts early.

"Mum!" Now her voice was a good octave above her normal pitch. "I want to go to Hogwarts this year. I don't want to be left behind without them." She was almost in tears because she was afraid she wouldn't be allowed to start school early.

"You have an appointment with Deputy Headmistress McGonagall Thursday at 9 to see if you're ready to attend Hogwarts this year." Pythia calmly sipped her tea.

Luna was going crazy. She was actually going to Hogwarts. The boys wouldn't be leaving her behind to waste away under Miss Emily's tutelage, all by her lonesome. And she was going a year younger than them - obviously she was smarter than them.

She didn't want to imagine what life would have been like if she had never met Neville or Harry. She would have been stuck at the Burrow with Ginny and her idiot brothers and -God Bless Her- Mrs. Weasley. The woman tried, but really, she didn't have the heart to force her children to learn, especially after teaching five previous children. Back when she was younger, Luna had scheduled playdates with Ginny every Wednesday. They'd hide around the corner and listen in on the twins', Fred and George, lessons. They were smart, too smart for their own good, and would mess around after they had mastered the day's lesson. Poor Mrs. Weasley was often frustrated by the twins' inability to sit still as Percy had. By the time Ron's schooling had begun, Mrs. Weasley had an exact time table laid out for when she would teach what. Unfortunately for Ron's academic future and Mrs. Weasley's patience, Ronald wasn't as academically gifted as his older brothers, and thus, never gained a good grip on the basics.

From the few things she had overheard - okay - from all the time she and Ginny had spent eavesdropping, it was abundantly clear to her Ronald was smart, but easily frustrated with his inability to grasp the material and unwilling to put in the extra effort necessary for him to succeed. Mrs. Weasley adherence to her strict schedule did nothing more than discourage Ron farther. Ginny just thought her youngest older brother was stupid, which led to her petitioning her mother to allow her and Luna to sit in on the lessons. Ginny loved being the first in her family to do something, anything, as long as no one had done it before.

She would hate it if Luna got to go to Hogwarts and she couldn't. Maybe she wouldn't tell Ginny until the last possible minute.

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To: Potter, Harry J.

From: Gringotts Bank, London

Subject: Personal Mail

Mr. Potter,

This email is to report an incident centered around your vault.

As you are aware, the bank here in London features vault style accounts to store wealth as physical contents. To link the vaults with other accounts, the vault is assigned the magical signature of the main owner.

In circumstances where the person is unreachable by owl, letters can be delivered and stored in the vault. Usually, the bank would be informed of this, so the letter could be forwarded to the owner. We were unaware this happened to your account until a flock of owls blocked access to all vaults attempting to deliver your Hogwarts letter.

For your convenience, we have securely destroyed the extra copies of your Hogwarts letter. You may pick up your mail at the London branch of Gringotts Bank, located in Diagon Alley.

Best Regards,

Zarzag,

Head of London Accounts

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Well, that explained a lot. He had gotten his Hogwarts letter; it had just been delivered to his vault. He could just pick it up when he visited Diagon Alley. They had poured over Neville's letter together. Harry had been shocked at the complete lack of information included in the letter. It had simply said, "You have been accepted. Classes start September 1st." Harry was used to getting letters that at least introduced his teachers and stated what classes he had. This letter wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Even he could tell the supply list hadn't been nearly complete.

Through his talks with Neville and Luna, he had learned that most students wore black everyday robes to normal classes and teachers informed them when the heavier work robes were needed, but the supply list hadn't even mentioned everyday robes. He had also learned he needed black dress shoes, something that couldn't possibly be inferred from the list. Neville had learned from his conversations with Potions Master Severus Snape, who turned out to be Professor Snape, that the first years often showed up without the required common ingredients, which made sense since it wasn't on the list. Even common lab equipment, such as stirring rods, ladles, decanters, measuring vials, were expected but not included on the list. Even the book list lacked substance. Harry had learned that most students brought common reference books such as An Encyclopedia of Magical Terms, which was a combination of a dictionary and encyclopedia for all things magical, and The Standard Star Chart, a reference specifically for Astronomy. Even the dry Hogwarts: A History was present in most students' personal libraries. The unabridged version provided all the rules and regulations of the school, besides just the history.

Even the little things, things that most people never thought of weren't included on the supply list. Simple things like parchment, quills, and ink eraser. Those who hadn't grown up around magic wouldn't even know they were supposed to use parchment and quills instead of pen and paper. Harry planned to take a good stack of paper and ballpoint pens just because they were much easier to use. Even if he couldn't do his assignments with them, his own personal notes couldn't be controlled by his teachers.

The sad state of the supply list fit in perfectly with the rest of the letter. Really, it contained no useful information. Everyone assuming that an accepted student to Hogwarts heard stories of the school from their parents, which would not be the case for all those with parents who weren't magical, the letter was sorely lacking. There was no history of the school. There was no information regarding the various extracurricular activities that would keep a student occupied. There wasn't even a section detailing how many students attended the school. Nothing had been mentioned about what classes a student would have and who their professors might be. There was no assigned reading list to prepare for the first class. There was nothing about school holidays or when the term ended.

Nikki was just as disappointed about the letter as him. From a parent's perspective, the letter was even less helpful. It didn't mention Hogwarts rules and regulations, nor where to find them. It didn't tell them how to contact the school with their comments and concerns. It didn't mention the cost of tuition or any of the typical administrative business that parents needed to know. Even the important topics, such as school safety and their child's welfare weren't addressed.

No way was Nikki going to let him go off to some strange school in the middle of who knows where without more information. Earlier, Luna had informed them she would be testing for early entrance into Hogwarts on Thursday. Since Harry didn't have an owl, perhaps she could deliver his conditional acceptance and get some answers to his questions.

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"So you've got the list of questions, right?" asked Harry as he gathered some of Luna's papers. Somehow, Luna and Harry had managed to talk Luna's Mum into letting her spend the night at his house the night before she went off to be tested for early admission to Hogwarts. Supposedly, it was to help Luna relax before her big day, but in reality they were both scared she wouldn't get in and needed the reassurance each other's presence brought.

Luna watched Harry pace across the floor. He seemed more nervous than she. "Yes, Harry." It was best just to humor him.

"And extra quills?"

"Yes, Harry."

"And that good luck charm?"

"Yes, Harry." Even Luna could only take so much worrying. "And I'm wearing socks and clean under..."

"Luna, dear. Time to go!" Pythia called from the next room, saving Harry from having to hear about Luna's unmentionables. "Are sure you'll be alright here until we get back, Harry?" she asked, entering the room to hurry Luna through the Floo. Harry had deliberately drug his feet until Pythia ran out of time to take him home before they left and had no choice but to leave him there.

"Of course, Mrs. Lovegood. I've got homework to do anyway." Harry's plan was right on track. Now he would be there when Luna returned.

"Well? How did it go?" asked Harry as Luna popped out of the Floo. "Did you do alright? Did you get answers to the questions?"

"Hi Harry. Nice to see you too Harry." responded Luna pointedly.

"Sorry." Never let it be said Harry couldn't catch a hint. "Hi Luna. "How'd it go?"

"Fine, I guess. I only got to see the school nurse, Madame Pomfrey. She sat me down on a bed and waved her wand over me. Then she asked if I could read and handed me a book. It was very boring." Luna looked dejected.

"You were gone an awful long time just for that."

"Mum and the lady talked forever." Luna brightened up a bit. "I did get to try a spell with the lady's wand. It made colorful sparks."

"But did you get in?" Harry asked the question he really wanted the answer to.

"I don't know." Luna's face fell again. "I'll get a letter in the mail."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."


End file.
